Against All Laws
by ILoveUchuu-jins
Summary: He was a Yin, I was a Yang. We would never be together, that was obvious for the both of us. Even I wasn't that naive. But... What if fate took a drastic loop around and we end up fighting for each other? Would the rule above still apply?
1. Chapter 1

**HI! Can't believe I'm starting _another_ story even though I just finished my last one yesterday. LOL.**

**Anyway, just wanted to give my thanks to the people who have been with me in my previous stories. You're awesome.**

**The idea of this story was given to me by a reader in my previous story (Loving My Dead Lover), Lost Grey Soul. I took the main idea and did some altering and stuff for the plot. All I'm going to say is, thank you for giving me this idea. I love it and can't wait to see how the story unrolls itself.**

**Well, enough of my chit-chat. Chapter one, here you go!**

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"Shhh..."

I squinted, trying to get a better view of the target. I absorbed its white feather, brushing against the green grass as it hopped around. Its ears, pale pink with red arteries clearly visible, moved as I pulled the string of my bow tighter, trying to decipher the threat it was facing.

"Stay," I whispered to thin air.

_Shtt!_

I let out the breath that I had been holding and stepped out of the bushes in which I hid in when waiting for a chase. The bush was an ideal place to do so, too, as it offered both a good hiding place and also a reliable source for snack. And not only was it thick and resourceful, it was near, but far enough to not be noticed, a water source, which guaranteed a daily catch as animals had to drink at least once a day.

I picked up my second catch of the day, together with a small squirrel that I accidentally stepped on my way to the bush, and stuffed it inside the leather game bag I had gotten when I just started hunting for the family years ago. It had cost me a whole deer for one, and so I decided I might as well put it in good use.

I hunted alone. I trusted no one, and my father took credit for that. He left my family, consisting of my fragile mom, my younger sister and myself, when I was only seven, forcing me to grow up faster than I should. He was the one who planted the seed of hatred and hostility towards men in me. I never trusted one ever since.

I brushed off the pine needles off my ragged pants and slung my bag on my shoulders. The sun wasn't setting yet, but I got what I needed to survive a day. So home I went.

But just as I was about to take a step towards the direction of my home, I heard laughter echo throughout the woods.

I froze. After all, I was breaking the law. Women weren't allowed to be in the forest, they needed to be home or be in someone else's home as slaves. Especially poor, under-aged girls like myself.

The laughter continued. But it didn't sound mean or arrogant, which was – more or less – how most rich people sounded near my place. I figured it was probably safer to slowly go out of the woods rather than staying there and wait for the person to come and catch me trespassing.

I ducked and stepped out slowly, freezing whenever I broke a twig or crunched dried up leaves. But just as I was about to plop myself inside the small underground tunnel that I dug to get to my hunting space, I heard the laughter again. This time, it was louder.

It sounded gentle, like a chuckle but not quite. It was definitely a male's, and without doubt was he someone friendly. His voice gave it all away.

But that didn't mean I was going to trust him for anything, if any.

I peered over a bunch of blueberry bush and found myself looking at a blonde man's back.

"You've got to be kidding me," he chuckled.

And as I moved to get a better angle at what he was doing, I realized that he wasn't anyone I knew. No one, absolutely no one, in my neighborhood had blond hair. None. Nada.

The guy, I saw, was trying to pat a rabbit's back in order to calm it down. But all his attempts only made it even more panicky and ended up scratching the poor guy's hand.

A giggle escaped my mouth, and I quickly clamped both of my hands tightly over my mouth. I froze as I wished silently that the guy hadn't heard me. But, of course, the gods weren't on my side.

The man stopped whatever he was doing with the rabbit and turned towards me. No, my bush, I guess, since I was pretty sure he couldn't look through the small gap between the vines.

"Who's there?" he asked in a stern voice.

I realized that the blonde was a teen, about a year older than me. Why was he there? Under-aged people weren't supposed to be in the forest.

"Reveal yourself!" he ordered. His voice sent shivers down my spine and I stood up groggily.

"S-sorry," I said at first, but hating the way my voice shook, so I started again. "Sorry." That's better. I had never allowed myself to look weak in front of anyone, especially boys. "I didn't mean to laugh at your…" My voice trailed off as I came to the realization that what I was planning to say could actually offend people. And, while I couldn't care less about what people think of me, I didn't need to offend someone I just met.

But the guy, as if reading my thoughts, finished the sentence for me, "Horrible skills of bonding with animals. Yeah, I know."

I couldn't help but to laugh at this. He didn't seem so bad, after all.

I took a good look at him again, taking in his neat but not formal attire – I had issues with people with formal attires, as that meant they were from the Class, a place where rich and arrogant people live in – his slightly ruffled blond hair and, this last thing about him really stood out, his green eyes. None of the people from my valley had green eyes. Most of us were grey-eyed, but there were some exceptions where we had other colors of eyes. Like, for instance, mine were hazel brown. But never green.

"What are you doing here? Under-aged people aren't allowed to be here," I asked in a more authorized tone, wishing that he wouldn't realize that I was under-aged myself.

But it was me we are talking about, here, and my luck was never not rotten.

"That question goes for you, too, then," he said, and I cursed under my breath. "Moreover, you're a girl. Even a grown woman wouldn't be allowed to be here."

I gritted my teeth, hating the fact that he was differentiating girls and boys. I always resented sexist pigs like him.

"I," I said in an annoyed tone, and I didn't bother to hide it, "happen to be putting food on the table for my family. Whereas you… I don't even know what you were trying to accomplish, playing around with bunnies like that."

He shook his head, as if in pity, and I clenched the lower limb of my bow, which I had slung on my back together with the sheath of wooden arrows and my leather bag.

"That," the blonde pointed towards the animal he had been playing with, "happens to be a hare, and not a bunny. And I wasn't '_playing around'_, as how you said I was. But rather, I was trying to increase my skills to endearing an animal."

God, if there is one thing that I hated more than sexist pigs, it would be a know-it-all.

"Well, you're not doing a good job, then," I remarked.

One of his brows shot up slightly, as if asking me to demonstrate why I was any better. Which was fine, really, since I was pretty good with getting along with animals. You know what they say, know better of your prey before catching them.

That was my words of wisdom, by the way. I never heard anyone saying that aside from me before.

To prove that I was better than him, I walked towards the rabbit – I mean, _hare_, according to Mr. Smarty Pants – and stopped about a yard away from it. I leaned down, took out a half-eaten carrot from my bag – used as bait to lure animals into my snares – and extended my arm towards it. The hare hesitated for a while, but then it gave in and nibbled on the carrot.

Slowly, I sat down, cross-legged, and carried the brown-furred animal onto my lap to enjoy the rest of its carrot. My hands swiftly rubbed the space in between its ears and it grinded its teeth, signaling me to continue petting her.

I turned towards the blonde with a smug smile on my face. Much to my dismay, he didn't look surprised or envious, which would make me feel _so_ good, being able to make a know-it-all envy like that. Instead, he looked as if he had expected it from me, which wasn't all that bad, but wasn't as good as envy.

"You need do it slowly. What you were doing just now, patting it by surprise, that triggered its defense mode, resulting in it attacking you," I said, my hand still rubbing the hare.

"I see…" he murmured, his eyes observing the hare on my lap.

And he kept on staring.

And he kept on staring.

"Can you stop staring? It's…" I hesitated to say this last part, but oh well, "…_uncomfortable._"

He shook himself out of his daydream and apologized for his rudeness. Pretty kind, if I may say so. You don't find gentlemen like him often around these areas.

No! What was I thinking? He wasn't a gentleman, or else he would've known better than to stare in the first place.

I rolled my eyes, moved the hare – you know what? Curse that hare business, I'm going to call it a bunny because I can – onto the grass beside me and stood up, brushing myself off of all the dried grass that the rabbit brought onto my lap.

"Anyway, get out of the area. The usually have a check on the land at three," I said before walking past him and disappearing behind the bushes.

"I'm Usui, by the way!" I heard him shout just before I stepped in the tunnel.

I sighed and shouted back, "I don't give a crap, by the way."

I knew that I was acting super rude, but I couldn't care less. By then, I just wanted to get out of the place to have a good nap.

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**I know, it sounds terribly like the Hunger Games. But no, I did not copy the Hunger Games or any other books. I had this idea for the first chapter even before I read the Hunger Games, and I always thought that girls who can do archery are awesome.**

**Anyway, please review! (Lol, that's like the thing that I always say in the end of a chapter. :p)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry I didn't get to update yesterday. I was planning to, but eventually fatigue won me over. Huh...**

**Reviews:**

**kyofan101: Wow, 1st to review a brand new story. Cool. I'm excited for this story, too!**

**karynpervskite: I know right! I love feminist icons like Misaki.**

**ICCFOWIGSM: Exactly how I thought when I was writing that! LOL.**

**usuixmisaki: Originally, I planned the story to be set in the past. But I was never good with history... Well, let's just say that it's in the past but in a land not known to man, with a whole new system of leadership and all.**

**Ayachikari-sama: Thanks! Well, your wait is over!**

**Lost Grey Soul: I will keep that in mind :)**

**yuukuzuri: That, my friend, is how I felt when I was rereading the chapter. Oh, and have you read The Long Walk? I was planning to read it but was wondering if it would be another book on my shelf that I would never read.**

**arissamei-chan: Thanks! Hunger Games ftw. LOL.**

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"_My, you're a work of beauty, aren't you?"_

I snapped my head up, my eyes blinking so fast that I thought they were never going to stop. My heart was pounding against my chest, and I felt a sudden urge to stab an arrow into the person who woke me from my sleep.

But what I found when I look up wasn't what I was expecting.

"You," I muttered. "What are you still doing here?"

Usui was hovering over me, blocking the sun. His arm, holding a branch that looked oddly familiar, was on the tree bark to support his weight. And yes, you read that right. I was sleeping under a tree.

"That goes for you, too, dear," he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

I rolled my eyes and grunted, "I was sleeping. That is, before you came here and interrupt the few hours of rest I have."

I straightened myself and brushed off the pine needles and dried leaves that had been transported onto my lap by the wind when I was sleeping. The leaves and winds had been steadily increasing these days. Autumn was coming.

"What's wrong?" I heard Usui ask.

I turned to look at him, before asking back, "What?"

"You sighed. What's wrong?"

This surprised me. "I did?"

Usui chuckled before shaking his head. "You're not even aware of what you do? Wow, and you call yourself a hunter."

I clenched my palms into balls of fist, crunching the dried leaves on the ground in process. But I remained my calm when I replied, "I don't need your remark. And I never called myself a hunter, have I?"

Usui seemed to consider this for a while, before giving his head a dismissive shake. "Anyway, back to my question. What's wrong?"

I stared out to the horizon when I answered him. "It's almost fall. And then winter will follow after that. It's hard to hunt when you're nearly freezing yourself."

He remained quiet for a while, letting me enjoy the rhythm of the forest.

The wind, which was blowing softly that it was comfortable, made the branches sway and ruffle against each other. The chirping birds reminded me of the music class I used to have. That is, before my family's economy fell and I was forced out of school to earn a living for my family. Then a speeding eagle tore through the sky, its graceful wings beating in harmony.

"You have beautiful hair."

That ruined my sense of peace. I could practically hear that broken disc voice inside my head. You know, the one the they use in movies when something out of plan happens? Not that I would know anything about it. The only time I ever watched a movie was in school.

I looked up at him, one brow shooting up. "What lie are you sprouting, blonde?"

He sighed – about the way I addressed him, I suppose – but decided to leave it as it was.

"I'm not lying. Your hair is beautiful, and soft, too," he smiled down at me and I swear I could feel heat rising up my cheeks.

I looked down, trying to hide my flaming cheeks, and snarled in a not-girly manner, "O-oh yeah? How would you know that?"

He leaned down a bit before releasing the branch that he had been holding in his hand. It landed right on my open palm.

I lifted it up and observed it. It did look a bit familiar, but –

My hand shot up to my hair as I realized what the branch was. It was my replacement for a hair stick – or hair chopstick, I often heard from people in the Class – to hold up the bun I tie up every morning. I find that hairdo to be the best out of all that my mom had taught me to do, as it was the one that actually holds up all the hair away from the face, except for my bangs, anyway.

I touched my hair, trying to find the messy bun but finding my hair untied instead.

"Hey! Why did you pull it out?" I asked, my voice going higher like a whine.

He just chuckled. "Because I wanted to see your hair."

That was when something inside me snapped.

The guy in front of me was a stranger. He wasn't supposed to be here with me. He had no right to be messing around with my hair. Why hadn't I shooed him off, anyway? It wasn't usual for me to be talking to boys like this.

I sprang up to my feet, feeling rage boiling inside me.

"_You_," I stabbed my fore-finger to his face, "don't have the right to be messing around with me. I don't know you, you don't know me. So shut up and leave me alone."

To say that he was surprised would be a massive understatement. He was startled to be addressed in such a manner; that was evident. And he hadn't had a single person point him in the face before, apparently.

He stayed silent for a while I panted, trying to slow my heartbeat down. By this rate, I was going to have high-blood pressure before I was even legal to drink.

"But you do know me," was what Usui said after a while of staring at my finger with his huge green eyes. "I told you my name."

Oh, for goodness's sake. Can he stop joking?

I grumbled, fists clenching and unclenching in annoyance. I felt like punching him in the gut, but…

But what? I wouldn't hesitate to punch anyone's gut if they were to mess around with me, but somehow… I just couldn't bear to punch him.

In the end, I resolved to stomping him on the foot. It wouldn't hurt as much as a punch, especially with my awfully thin-soled shoes – but it would teach him a lesson to not play around with me. I hoped.

That was when I realized the awkward position that we were in. Usui's hand was still on the bark of the tree to lean on, and because I had sprang up so fast, he didn't get the chance to pull his hand back. So I was in the middle of his hand and himself, his nose only inches away from mine.

Just for a second, I accidentally looked into his eyes. His were green as mine were brown, and they sparkle like the evening sunset. So mesmerizing… So beautiful… So rare, like a chunk of emerald in the middle of a coal mine…

Yet so dangerous.

I shook myself out from the trance and pushed him away from me, causing him to stumble and fall onto a pile of dead plants.

"You stay away from me, and from this place. It's my territory to hunt, got that?" I used the most intimidating sound I could muster then, which wasn't a very intimidating tone at all, considering how heated up my cheeks were and how much my heart was pounding against my ribs.

I grabbed my bow and arrows and took off, leaving a spoiled brat on the ground, wondering how could he get intimidated by a girl.

Or, at least, that was what I hoped he was wondering, anyway.

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**Please review~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, I must be insane. I have no freaking clue as to what they do and what they have in the medieval times. Argh...**

**Reviews:**

**Ariesbird: This is, like, the hardest story to write out of all the I have written.**

**kyofan101: LOOOL. Like the first to comment in a very famous video? LOL**

**Lost Grey Soul: Yeah! I realized that, too, when I was writing this.**

**usuixmisaki: No, Lalaland is made out of cotton candies and unicorns. LOL**

**arissamei-chan: Awww, thanks!**

**RaquellaRose: Your wait is over!**

**Ayachikari-sama: I'm planning to have it in Misaki's POV all the way, but maybe some alterations will need to be done as the story goes.**

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"I'm home!" I announced, in case anyone cared. But it seemed as nobody did, as no one greeted me.

I sighed as I took off my hunting boots and hanged my bow and arrows onto the nail I had hammered into the wall a year ago. I dropped off my sack on the dining table, knowing that my mom would know what to do with it.

I took a good look around the cramped, wooden cabin which I called home. It was old, ancient if compared to my age. It wasn't in a terrible shape, thanks to the fixing I did, but it wasn't necessarily in a good shape, either. The roof on the second floor would occasionally leak and the doors were making those creeking sounds that made it super scary to go to the bathroom at night.

It was a good two-storey house, with wooden walls and wooden furniture. Practically everything inside it was made of wood, with the exception of kitchen wares, of course. We got thin, metal bowl and a few clay pots for cooking and eating – wouldn't want to put wooden pots on fire, would you, now? All the bedrooms, except for my mother's, were located on the second floor. The living room was where the kitchen was, and the closest things to entertainment were a bunch of books stacked on a shelf probably a hundred years old.

But no matter how bad its condition was, it was my home. And I felt as close to comfortable as I could get in there. Well, there and in the woods, but no one knew that.

"Mom, I've got catches," I shouted. "It's on the table."

There was silence before I heard her reply, "Okay. I'll prepare dinner in a while."

I shook my head and went up to my room. Once inside, I took off my jacket, an old one with holes on it, and reached up to my hair to undo the bun, only to remember than a certain blond pig had pulled it out.

I stretched out my arms and cracked my knuckles in exhaustion. Just in a few hours, right after dinner, I would be going out to the black market to sell whatever mom hadn't cook. And considering how mom always chooses the best part of an animal, it would be hard to convince someone to buy it.

And then I would be going to the woods again, hunting down night animals that would profit me much more than ordinary catches. Black markets around my valley opened until dawn, where the authorities would be going around and checking markets and stalls, so I could go to them and trade the animals again.

Now, you must be wondering why I didn't just trade the night animals together with the leftovers from my dinner. The reason for that is that the leftovers would just bring down the value of the night animals. I would rather walk to the market twice rather than lose a value of something. Yeah, I was _that_ desperate for money.

Nightfall came sooner than I thought, and I was out in the coldness of the night again. My stomach wasn't full, but just enough to provide me with the energy I needed to hunt. I tried to limit myself as much as possible, so that my mom and my sister, Suzuna, could have more to eat.

Slung on my shoulders were my bow and arrows – always a set – my sack and the leftovers. Tonight, my mom left out a leg and some bones from the rabbit that I caught and nothing from the squirrel. Rabbit legs are quite wanted in the black market, so I guess I wouldn't be going home empty handed tonight.

The market was the same as usual; dark, hidden in the midst of hang out places for gangsters – they had taught us to never come near the place, but the rule wore off the second I was kicked out. It consisted of five large cabins, forming a circle. There was a gate in front of the circle, fence encircling the group of buildings. So I guess you could say that the market was in a gated community.

By the gate was Brayne. He was the one who checks people and determines whether or not the person is allowed to go in or not. He was also a friend of mine.

"Misaki! People have been asking for you!" he said as he saw me approaching.

I sighed and replied, "Hey, Brayne. Hope those people aren't too bored waiting for me."

He smiled in return and opened the broken, iron gate for me.

A wave of stench clogged my nose the moment I stepped in the territory. The people here weren't accustomed to taking a bath daily – or weekly, for that matter. The only time they ever wash anything was when someone fell ill, you know, to prevent the illness from spreading. But I highly doubt that method ever worked.

"Bash!" I called out to a grey-haired man in his fifties. He was the one who had been buying all my stuff. "Got some legs!"

Bash whirled around from his stand and smiled at me, exposing those crooked teeth of his.

"Ah! I thought you would never come back!" He said, his voice coarse and rasp. "Let's see what's in that magic bag!"

I showed him the leg and bones, and he traded me 5 coins for all of them. Not bad, I should say.

Coins had been the currency for my valley since ever. It could only be used within the area of the valley, and nowhere else. Other cities had other methods of trading. Like, for example, the Class used salt to trade stuff. Ridiculous, I know.

I was out of the place faster than light speed, the stench was burning my lungs like acid. I ran towards the woods, praying that the night patrol was over. Peeking through the blueberry bushes that encircle the woods, like a fence but natural, I sighed as I saw no one.

Slowly, I uncovered the tunnel entry I had dug years ago and climbed in. Why was I in a tunnel, you ask? Well, the authorities in my valley, unfortunately, weren't that much of an idiot, and so they knew that some of us were going to break the rules and go inside the woods. So they placed traps around the forest in the shape of the circle inside the ring of blueberries, in hope to catch one of us rule-breakers and give us punishments publicly as warning for others.

But I, of course, was smarter than them. I knew their strategy, and dug a tunnel from the blueberries, under the traps, and out to the greens. And it took me half a year to finish digging.

Others also dug their tunnels, which was why I occasionally meet some of my classmates inside the woods, hunting. I assumed that that was how that blond Usui got inside the woods, too.

I got to all fours and started crawling my way towards the exit. Or should I say, the entrance to the source of my money. Hunting had been the source of money and food ever since my dad abandoned us.

"Ugh," I grunted as I pulled myself out of the tiny hole. Guess I should've made the tunnel bigger, huh? But you can't blame me, I was young – and much smaller – when I dug the hole and I didn't think that I would still be hunting for food by then.

Yeah, I was a little, naïve kid.

Suddenly, my eyes caught a light, which was odd considering how they – the guards – never placed lamps or anything of the sort around.

Slowly, and not full of panic, I crawled to a nearby bush on my belly and hid.

And hid.

And hid.

But the light didn't disappear as how I thought it would. It didn't move, either. All it did was staying there, literally a shining bulb just on top of a hollow trunk, illuminating the area in the radius of 5 yards or so. And where I was hiding was only two yards away from it.

Just when I was about to stand up and go closer to the light, I heard a voice.

"That's odd. I could've sworn I heard someone there."

And what made my gut shrink was the realization that the voice I heard was filled with arrogance and hatred and self-pride.

"The Class," I whispered.

Moments after that, the light moved, its rays beaming off to another direction. I sighed in relief and silently stood up, clutching the bottom of my bow tightly in my hand.

My trip to my hunting place was eventless, only filled with my heart stopping again and again whenever I stepped on dry leaves. The only fun there was in the hunt was when I shot a bird right through its head, a really hard thing to do in the dead of the night. All the actual suspense and unfortunate activities happened when I was going back to my tunnel.

I was walking behind the throng of trees and greenery, not bothering to conceal myself from any human beings or night-predators that might be roaming around the woods then. My sack was heavy, filled with two dead birds and a wild dog.

And my heart stopped for the hundred and seventieth time in the night.

Because right there on where my hole should've been, stood a swarm of armed guards with expression that could kill.

And I swallowed down the big lump in my throat when one of them squinted at me, saying, "Bring her."

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**Yes! This chapter is like the start of all the adventure and drama!**

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi. I'm really sorry for not updating daily these days, but I just had so much homework that I barely had any sleep. And for the sake of time, I'll skip the reviews. Sorry.**

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I was dragged, lifted by the arms, away from the woods, from my tunnel, from my home.

I struggled to get free, wincing whenever the guards who dragged me purposely drop me an inch deeper to the ground. I bit my lip as thorns and roots pierced through the fabric of my pants.

"Let go of me!" I shrieked, wishing that someone would wake up and save me from them. But we were in the deeper part of the woods now, and I don't think anyone was stupid enough to live in an area where wild beasts roam free.

The guards' nails sank into my flesh and I felt my arms going numb. I could've kicked them, I guess, but they were smart enough to tie them up before actually carrying me.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded. When they didn't answer me, I started swinging myself, still demanding the answer.

"A place where you will be judged for the crime you did," one finally said.

My heart was thrashing around my rib, threatening to crack one. I was caught, in the middle of an illegal hunt, and now they were going to punish me for what I did. This wasn't a good thing.

But I wasn't going to show any sign of weakness. Not in front of anyone, especially in front of the people from the Class. I just wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Not so easily.

I was just about to insult one of them of the hideous tights they were wearing when, suddenly, I was thrown into a large metal container about three yards to two.

They slammed the door shut and soon after that, the container started moving. To which direction, I didn't know. There weren't any windows or even a source of light inside the cabin. It was complete darkness.

To add to my discomfort, my teeth started chattering uncontrollably. It must have been at least 40 degrees in there – not to mention how the metal seemed to conduct all the heat away from my already freezing body.

"Hey!" I shouted, trying to get the attention of my captors. "Where exactly are we going?"

My voiced echoed against the metal walls, followed by nothing but silence.

This is it, I thought. This is how I'm going to die. I'm going to die a slow, horrible death with accented-people torturing me in methods unimaginable. I'm not going to be fed for days and days and I will lose more than half of my body weight and look like a skeleton even before my flesh decays.

Oh, God. This was bad.

Panic surfaced through the clouds of fear. I needed to get out there. And fast. Only, how? The container was sealed shut and I really didn't think that I could kick my way out of the thing. It must have been at least an inch thick, made up of the best metal – and conductor – known to man.

I brought my legs up to my chest and rested my forehead on my knees. I was not going to cry. I was not going to weep. I was going to be strong and show them that I wasn't a coward. No…

My tears burst out of my eyes like a volcano. And for a second, it really did seem like a volcano, because my face was so cold that tears seemed like boiling water on it.

How, I thought, are mom and Suzuna going to survive without me hunting for them? Sure, mom could knit and Suzuna could catch small animals that comes by often to eat the grass near our house, but that wouldn't last them a week. If it could, then I wouldn't need to hunt for food and money.

Then, suddenly, the container stopped.

My breaths became short and shallow as I knew we had arrived. The place where I would be sentenced to jail and, eventually, rot inside. Or maybe they would be kinder to me and just directly give me a death penalty, sparing me from the hunger, pain and embarrassment.

But, knowing how the Class worked, I highly doubted that.

The doors of the container opened with an audible creak and light and fog seeped in. Quickly, I rubbed away any evidence that I had been crying away and lifted my chin high. This was how I wanted to show myself to the judge. A strong, courageous woman that I was.

But the people who yanked me out of the container weren't the same guards that had thrown me inside it. They had this scent that suggested they weren't from anywhere near my valley. In fact, the scent suggested that they weren't from any of the valleys or cities in the whole land. Which could only mean one thing:

They were from the Class.

Either that or _I_ was in the Class.

A new wave of fear, panic and hysteria washed over me as the forced me up to my feet, brought both of my hands forcefully to the back and bonded it with something that felt like a rope of thorns.

"A wench," one said in that accent I despised. "Wonder what she'll be useful of."

My brows furrowed and, if it weren't for my bonded hands and chained feet, I would've punched the lights out of that guy right there.

"A treat, I bet," the other one said, followed by laughter from both of them while pushing me from the back in an ungentle manner. "Move on, Missy."

I walked on the stone path leading towards a large mansion of some sort. It looked oddly familiar to me, but I could have sworn that I had never been there before. Maybe I saw a picture of it in school.

Wait. School only showed pictures of important places. If a picture of this was shown in school, then…

Oh, shit.

"Where am I?" I asked, by the off chance I was wrong.

The guards let out an impolite laugh, before saying, "Why, you're in the Royal Castle. Where do you think? Your house?"

And they laughed again.

I didn't get why they were laughing. His joke wasn't even funny – even in the Class I don't believe they would find it funny. But maybe that was because I was dumbfounded by what he said before that that his joke didn't register to my brain.

I was in the castle – oh, _pardon me_, the Royal Castle, as how the people here would say – where I would not only be executed in a way unimaginably cruel, but also be executed _in public_, like how they did with the last rule-breaker, as an example of what they would end up if they were to break the rules, too.

This was worse than I thought. _Way_ worse than I thought.

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**Wench, never use that word in front of your girlfriends, boys.**

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi! I've been noticing some things in this story that's different from my other stories. Misaki here is very graceful and swift and cool, while in my other stories Misaki is sarcastic and grumpy. I guess that was what made this story a bit harder to write than the others. Well, no matter. A challenge if always accepted.**

**Reviews:**

**Ariesbird: :D**

__**blackopalz21: Shouldn't... Give... _Spoilersss..._**

**kyofan101: ... Google it at your own risk.**

**ChuGaEun: We shall see :)**

**usuixmisaki: No... Spoilers...**

**Bevy: You bet this is bad.**

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As soon as I was thrown in a wide, bright room and locked in, I was stripped naked. My bag was taken away, probably to the castle kitchen, my weapons burned in a fire separated from me by a wide, transparent glass wall and my clothes torn into pieces so tiny they wouldn't even cover my thumb completely.

I sat in the corner of the room, my bonded hands covering my bare chest as much as it could and feet folded up to cover what my arms could not. The pain from all the cuts was agonizing, but not as much as the humiliation I was going through. Tears streamed down my cheeks as the embarrassment registered in my mind.

I was naked, with nothing but my limbs to cover my body. I was shivering, both from all the crying and the biting coldness of the room – the glass wall seemed to block out all the heat the fire was emitting. And I was going to be eliminated in this condition – or worse, if that was even possible in the state I was in.

My heart was pounding in my ears, in my throat, in my stomach, I don't know. It seemed to be in every part of my now naked body. I felt like throwing up, not because of the embarrassment or anything like that, but because I was feeling really, _really_ ill. Like when I had a fever years ago.

Oh no, I thought. I can't be having fever _now_.

I tried to shake myself off my nausea by looking around the room. It was lit up with a huge lamp, hung in the center of the white ceiling. The whole room was covered in white tiles, which reflected light to all directions. In the other corner of the room was the fire that burned my bow and arrows, enclosed by a glass wall that reached all the way to the ceiling. In front of me were my shredded clothes.

I cringed as the memory of them stripping me resurfaced.

"What do you want to do now?" One of them had said after they threw me inside the room.

The other one just grinned at him and the next second I knew, they had their knives in the grip.

I stared at them, horrified. I used my bonded legs and hands to scoot away from them, but who was I to compete with two grown man?

Before I knew it, they had their hands over me. Their knives pierced through the fabric of my jacket, my shirt, my pants, occasionally cutting my flesh in the process. I shrieked and kicked and begged, but they wouldn't stop. That was when I realized the true meaning when the guards said "_A treat._"

It was when they were just loosening the collars of their uniforms that a knock sounded from the door. They got up to their feet, spat at me, possibly infecting my wounds, and went out, muttering about how _unsatisfying_ I was because of all my shouting. Right then, I was so terrified that all I cared about was how happy I was that I still had my virtue.

I trembled the whole time as the memory played in my mind. The cuts on my face were aching, as the tears from my eyes literally rubbed salt to the wounds. Closing my eyes didn't help, either.

I felt my tears drop onto my shoulder. Then, I wasn't really worried about how it could drop onto my shoulders, because, of course, that defied the gravitational force.

And I felt it again.

Warm and soft, it was the nearest thing to comfort that I had since I arrived to the hellhole. If only I could get more of those –

Wait. Warm. And soft. Those aren't really what I would use to describe how tears felt like.

Those are what I would use to describe a hand.

My eyelids flung open and I sprang up to my feet, only to fall even before I could stand up straight, thanks to the thorn-covered ropes they had bonded my limbs with. My heart, almost bursting with the sudden panic attack, filled my ears and head, making me feel woozy with my chest heaving.

What I saw when I stared horrifically at the hand's owner was the complete opposite as to what I was expecting to see.

What I had expected in my mind: the same two guards who had stripped me naked, looking for further entertainment they could find with my body. Holding knives, blow torches, whips, anything that they could use to get me to obey what they wanted.

Well, that was what a neighbor of mine said she suffered through when she was taken in by the Class and released a year afterward. Had people touching her practically every second she was free from one of the many trials she had and back in her cell. This information had been ridiculous to me before, but then, it was a new panic running through my veins. Surely, I wouldn't want to end up like her.

Anyway, what I actually saw when I lifted my head was, as I had stated out before, completely out of what I had expected. I was perplexed for a moment, for, surely, what I saw couldn't be real.

But I realized that it was. His standing there was as real as me naked. This was proved when his mouth moved and voice escaped out of it.

"Are you alright?"

But the thing that made my heart sank when he spoke was his voice. Or, rather, the accent that he was speaking in.

You guessed it. He spoke using the Class's accent.

Which would only mean one thing:

Usui was one of them. One of Them.

One of the Class's people.

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**Okay, I'm terribly sorry if I'm just beating Misaki too hard, but I think this will be best for the plot. SORRY!**

**Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**OH MY GOODNESS. This story is really, _really_ hard to write! I don't know what's so different, really, between this and my other stories, but it just feels so different and... _hard._**

**__Reviews: (Some skipped, sorry)**

**For people who blushed because Usui saw Misaki naked: Now you know how I felt when I was writing that. Quite awkward, actually.**

**sakurahanazono: THANKS!**

**Ayachikari-sama: Aww, that's so nice to hear that a person is willing to wait for my story :) Love you.**

**usuixmisaki: Yes, she was almost raped :S**

**karynperovskite: Mayyybeeeeeeeeeeeee :D**

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I was startled by the information that all I did for the next 5 minutes was staring at the blonde in fear. Because, if you think about it, what different was Usui compared with the two guards?

Exactly. Nothing.

"I won't hurt you. Are you alright?" Usui asked again, his tone as gentle as his touch.

And also very dangerous if you were to give in to it.

"G-g-g-get a-a-away f-f-from m-me," I stammered as I scooted away from him.

He looked at me with concern evident in his eyes – or should I say, _fake_ concern – for a while, before sighing. In a swift motion, he stood up and went towards a corner of the room. My eyes didn't follow where he went.

Why, I thought, did I ever think that Usui was a decent guy? He was a jerk who plays with ladies and later dumps them to pick out a new one, just like the other people in the Class. He was a liar. He lied to me in the face. And even though I wasn't sure what he had lied to me about, I still felt cheated.

As my cries turned to shudders, Usui came back with a brown, folded blanket on his hands. I tore my gaze from the warm, inviting blanket and glared at the blonde. I forced myself to remain calm, but tears were threatening to spill out of my already-swollen eyes. I told myself, again and again, that those were caused of hatred and the feeling of betrayal, and not because I had a love-in-first-sight, like how my friends back home would say.

Usui, ignoring my cold look, squatted down and slowly approached me like I was some wounded animal that he needed to take care of and not scare. But, considering how much scars and wounds there were on my body then, I might have looked like one.

Out of all the stuff that I could've been thinking about, I chose to think about the improvement he made. He was practically scaring the lights out of the bunny that noon, and now there he was, completely aware that a sudden wrong move would mean to my yelping away.

Then a thought occurred to me. He was acting. After all, he was a traitor, so acting wouldn't be so much of a surprise now, would it?

"Here," Usui whispered, his voice now not filled with that Class accent I resented for life. "You must be cold."

As he took another step forward, I dragged myself backward, only to find my back against the cold, tiled wall. It was only then that I fully realized how naked I was. Not a single fabric to cover a part of my body.

I was in front of a traitor, shivering like a weakling. And naked.

I was sure that then my cheeks went from pale to light peach.

"Shhh. I won't hurt you," Usui quickly – but not suddenly – breathed when he saw me backing away.

My head was pounding and the nausea was still with me. The room was a faint shade of white and the blonde in front of me was swaying like a drunkard.

I didn't have the energy to go on. I was ill, I finally accepted the truth. If this was to go on, I was going to be dead before they could even sentence me to a horrible way of dying.

So I didn't budge when Usui, still slow and gentle as a feather, draped me with the thick blanket. The fabric was heavy on my bony shoulders, and it felt like thorns on my wounds. But despite all that, it felt good. It was warm – really warm – and it seemed to calm down my pounding head.

One of Usui's hands snaked around my waist and pushed my back a little bit to the front, so he'd be able to put the blanket around me. I felt his hands on my breasts – to curl in the blanket so that it wouldn't fall down, I suppose – and felt all my nerves shouting out for me to spring up, but I didn't. I was in a too comfortable state to do anything besides sitting down and enjoy the warmth I was starting to regain.

I told myself to not get too comfortable, as I knew that it wasn't going to last long. I told myself that I shouldn't trust Usui – that he was nothing but a traitor – but my mind was too exhausted to actually remember stuff like that.

Once done, he sat down and observed me. I used the time to take a good look at the blonde himself.

He, I soon realized, wasn't wearing the same thing he had been in the woods. Instead, he was wearing a suit similar to what the guards wore, only his was dark blue in color and had a lot more golden accessories on it. His hair, instead of being messy-but-not-quite, was neatly combed to the side.

Despite my hatred towards him, I, with my voice barely comprehendible, murmured, "T-thank… you…"

Usui's brows shot up, but he quickly dismissed his shock. He replied, with a faint smile on his lips, "No problem."

He looked as if he wanted to say more, probably to ask more, but he knew that then wasn't the time to do so. He knew that I would freak out again if he was to ask what happened or why I was in the condition I was in. He knew that I would feel really embarrassed if he had asked why I was stripped and sliced. He knew, and so he didn't ask more.

And I sort of looked up to him for that knowledge.

I told myself to not fall asleep the second the wave of fatigue washed over me, but, of course, my mind wasn't really in charge of me by that point. And so I did.

My body fell down onto the floor by itself, and I didn't bother shifting myself to a more comfortable position. My eyes closed instantly as the whole world faded to black.

But a second before unconsciousness, I dragged up my eyes, even if just for a millimeter. And I saw Usui leaving me, closing that cursed white door he had came in from behind him. Leaving me alone.

Of course. I should've known.

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**Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**HIIII! That's all.**

**Reviews:**

**karynperovskite: Aww, really? Thank you :)**

**LunaAlchemist27: HIHIHIHIHI. Try to predict what will happen next :p**

**wolfbound321: Thankss :D**

**ChuGaEun: Wow. You're the only one who says that Usui is gentle in chapter 6. You know, because he left Misaki in the end and everything.**

**kyofan101: I simply can't imagine how the story will be like if Usui was to rape Misaki O.O**

**ICCFOWIGSM: LOL, the pervert inside him.**

**usuixmisaki: You'll see :)**

**Ayachikari-sama: ^^ You'll see.**

**Robotic Draconian: Thanks! And I will.**

* * *

When I blinked open my eyes, the bright ceiling and tiled room were gone, in its place were a cream, carved ceiling and carved-in walls. The freezing floor on which I had slept on was replaced by a warm mattress. The whole room was different.

To prove to myself that I was fully awake – and not in some kind of dreamland that I occasionally imagined about – I sat up.

Then promptly realized this had been a bad decision.

The nausea, which I had been sure was gone when I opened my eyes, came back thrice as how it had been before I slept. Water and my dinner yesterday came up and I hurled into the basin of water beside the mattress I was on. I would say sorry to whoever owned the basin later.

After I was done throwing up, I felt a great deal better. Oh, sure, my head was still pounding like crazy and the nausea hadn't completely gone out together with my throw up, but it was less excruciating than before.

My eyes were tearing, even though I was sure that I wasn't crying. My head –

Oh, was it killing me.

My head was pounding, as if someone was hammering a nail on it.

The room was oddly cold, but I was burning inside. Must be an effect of throwing up, I thought.

Being aware that I was indeed in the fancy room, I took a good look around and noticed that it was quadruple the size of the bright room before. The room, I realized, had a heck lot of pillars and carvings on them. In one corner stood a bookshelf about 3 yards long. Swords and arrows were neatly stacked inside an open wooden shelf. And it would take me eons to describe the rest of the furniture in the room, so I will stop with that.

I was on a bed the size of my bedroom at home, under a thick, red comforter. My hands and legs were, quite surprisingly, still bonded together with those thorny stuff. And I, myself, was still only wearing the piece of blanket from yesterday.

I was upset with this, of course, because I would choose to be clothed and unbounded rather than to be placed in a fancy, yet creepy, room.

Then a question suddenly arouse in my head. _Who_ actually moved me here?

I looked around, searching for answers or people that I could ask answers from. But my search came out negative. I was the only person in the room, barely clothed and limbs bonded.

Great.

Suddenly, a shadow came from the slightly ajar door and I felt my hands clenched my blanket tighter around me. I shut my eyes tight, scared of what I might see, and hoped for the best.

Please, I thought, don't be the guards. Don't be the guards. I beg you.

That was it. They were going to touch me in this very bed I was on. No wonder they didn't clothe me or cut off the bond around my limbs. It would make it hard for them with my arms flailing around.

When I felt a yank on my bare shoulders, I sank in the bed and shouted in horror before they could do anything else, "Please! Don't! I beg you!

I thought about what I said, and noticed how weak I sounded. But I couldn't care less about how I sounded at that point.

I was barely clothed, my limbs bonded, and now they were going to have me as their _'treat'_ before they execute me. Why would I care about how I sounded?

"Please!" I cried. Tears were actually forming on the corners of my eyes. "I beg you… Please!"

The hand quickly let go of me as if I was on fire. My heart slowed down for a tenth of a second before my hands quickly pulled the comforter above my head, as if that could shield me from the people of the Class.

It was only then that I realized how bad I was shaking – my hands, especially. My heart thrashed around my chest, every beat seemed to contribute in pushing my eyeballs out. My lips quivering, I highly doubt that my attackers were able to understand what I had been stammering about.

So I started again, "Please… I beg you… Don't…"

I heard a sigh and a clattering sound.

Great, they even brought _swords _with them.

Oh, I thought, this is just great, alright…

…_Not._

"It's alright. I won't hurt you. I won't even touch you, if you don't like it. But please, I'm not going to hurt you."

Perplexed by the voice, I rolled onto my stomach and poked my head out of the comforter above me. I turned out to be completely mistaken as to who was coming in and his intention.

For starters, the person who came in looked nothing like the guards from last night. Oh, no. This guy happened to looked exactly the opposite of the guards – which was a good thing, considering how terrible the guards looked.

Second, his intention, as it turned out, wasn't to have me as his _'treat'_, but rather to give me something that would fill my empty stomach.

And third, I happened to know this guy.

"You," I spat out, intending to sound cold, but my voice failed me. "_Traitor._"

God, you have no idea how relieved I was to have said that to him. It had been nagging me ever since I woke up. No, even before I fell asleep I had been waiting to say that to him, but I was too tired and all.

To say that he looked surprised to be addressed this way would be a massive understatement. He even looked back to see if I was really talking to him, but, of course, there was only a thick curtain behind him.

"Excuse me?" Usui retorted. And if I wasn't mistaken, he sounded kind of mad.

But he had no right to be, right? I mean, if he had come clean with all this Class stuff, I wouldn't have called him a traitor.

"I'm here to give you food and you call me a _traitor?_" he continued. "Well, excuse me, but I was just trying to help!"

The grumpy part of me wanted to say, "Arrogant, little bastard." But I knew that he had a point.

This was when a pang of guilt appeared in my gut.

I guess I was a bit hard on him. Maybe he didn't tell me that because he wasn't aware of my hatred towards the Class. After all, he hadn't known me for a long time and I hadn't bothered to ask him about anything related to his personal life.

But despite that, I still felt deceived. For what, I have no idea.

So when he was about to pick up the tray of food on the bedside table beside the bed I was on, which would explain that the clattering sound I heard before wasn't from swords but the steel tray itself, I quickly muttered, "I'm sorry."

This, I saw, even surprised him more.

He paused for a while, looking as if someone had just smacked him on the head with a weighing stone, apparently thinking about what I was sorry about.

"For calling you a traitor," I added softly, pulling my head in the comforter slowly like a turtle. "I didn't mean it."

The look on his face softened as he straightened himself and sat down beside me on the bed.

This, however, triggered my instinct to run.

"_Run. It's the guards. They're here to hurt you,"_ it seemed to say.

And I couldn't stop myself from jumping before my body instinctively did so. And that was how I ended up being on the floor on the other side of the bed with my body tangled up in the comforter.

Usui gasped and quickly scrambled up and ran beside me. "Are you alright?"

That, I counted, had been the second time he had asked me if I was alright in situations where I clearly wasn't. Again, my insides wanted to shout, "Arrogant, little bastard."

When he was about to reach out to help me up, I dodged away his hand and stared down at my naked feet.

My heart was hammering, and breathing slowly didn't help slow it down. I knew he wasn't going to hurt me – well, I was pretty sure, anyway – but my body just wouldn't bare his touch. I don't think my body was ever going to bare anyone's touch from now on, not after what had happened.

I dragged myself into the corner of the bed and another bedside table on the other side and stayed as still as possible, which wasn't still at all, considering how badly I was trembling with fear.

Usui looked at me worryingly, before sighing, standing up to retrieve the meal he had brought in for me and placing it down before me.

I was starving, I know that for sure. But my body just simply rejected any command to move and gobble up the meal before me. The meal consisting of a bowl of steaming broth and meat, beside it stood a glass of red liquid, which fumed out a bittersweet scent; so inviting, and yet my starving body was rejecting to even touch it.

So instead of eating the whole tray in one bite, like how I would if I wasn't in such a state of trauma, my mouth said, without my control whatsoever, "I'm not hungry."

Really, it wasn't fair how my body could act on its own.

* * *

**Hey, if anyone would like to write me a constructive criticism, be free to do so! I actually find myself learning more that way.**

**Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi. Due to my lack of time, I'm just going to summarize the reviews in a couple sentences, k?**

**So, once again, thank you for the people who reviewed. Even a bigger thank you to the people who attempted to write a constructive criticism or who just voiced out their opinions. You guys should know that I take all reviews seriously, and you have no idea how one could make up for my really stressful day.**

**Speaking of stressful, I just experienced something really weird today. I was so stressed that everything seemed to be really funny, and I started laughing and giggling in class and also acting rather dorkily (I know, the words I use... Sigh).**

**Okay, that's all.**

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Usui looked at me with boredom clearly written all over his face.

"Baloney," he snapped. "You're down with a hundred-degree fever and freezing and you say you're not hungry? Do you really take me as that much of an idiot?"

A fever? _A hundred degrees?_

Crap.

I placed the top of my palm over to my forehead and almost heard my hand sizzle. My forehead was _beyond hot_. It was like the sun, radiating heat enough to support a whole planet.

Explains why my head was pounding and my eyes watering.

But despite all the symptoms that I was having a severe fever, I refused to believe it. Because, from my own experience, he more you believe something, the more it will come true.

"I am not," I said, my voice shaking, after placing my hand – or hands, I should say – down, "having a fever. I'm just… _traumatized._"

Usui shook his head, and I felt myself burning even more. But this time, it wasn't because of my illness.

"Eat."

Well, I wanted to say, I would like to. But, unfortunately, my body has a mind of its own. And besides, my limbs are still bonded.

Reminds me…

"Release me," I said, hating how I need to ask a guy – _a guy!_ – to release me. Usually, I could've broken down anything – chains, vines, roots, anything – in one swipe. My skills, however, seemed to have dissipated to thin air the second I was attacked by those two sexual harassing Class dudes.

Usui looked at me weirdly, not seeming to understand what I was saying. "Pardon?"

"Release me," I repeated, my cheeks flaming – as if it hadn't already, thanks to the fever I refused to believe in – a shade of bright red. I lifted up my bonded hands and legs. "Release me."

"Oh, that," Usui replied. "I'm sorry, but… I can't."

My eyes went wide. "Why not? You – " I wanted to call him an arrogant – God, my vocabulary suck – traitor, but decided that calling him once with that was enough " – moron." I settled with that.

His eyes went from bored to cold, when he said, "You don't have the right to call me that."

He should've known better that I wasn't one to follow the rules. After all, I was there because of breaking the law, wasn't I?

"And as for your question, I believe that I don't have the orders myself to release you from the shackles," Usui continued, his eyes turning back to warm green.

"Oh, so you have the right to bring me here – to a fancy room, out of all places – but not to open my shackles? Well, that is just plain stupid," I retorted. "Now, _release me._"

I think he finally reached his tipping point then.

"This is the last time I'm going to repeat myself," he said in a tone very deep and thick of the Class accent. "I don't have the right to open your shackles. Now eat before your food is cold."

He was standing up when I snapped back at him.

"Well, how am I supposed to eat when both of my hands are bonded?" I was planning to call him a name in the end of the statement, but decided it wouldn't be a wise choice on my part, so I let my voice trail off at that point.

He seemed to consider this for a while, before he sat back down and lifted the bowl of broth into his hands.

"Fine, I'll feed you, then," he said as he was scooping the clear, yellow liquid onto a spoon and blowing it gently.

This was not how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to release my shackles, in order for me to feed myself, and then I would attack him by surprise and escape. After changing myself into a set of clothes, of course.

But have him feeding me broth? No. That was totally out of plan.

[Insert a curse word of your choice]

Usui lifted the spoon with the warm liquid in it in front of my face, the steam licking my face, its scent entering my senses and simply driving my brain nuts.

"Open," he ordered, and not in a gentle manner, either.

I hesitated for a moment, before gingerly opening my dry mouth a little and leaned forward.

The broth tasted like heaven. Paradise. It would take more than just adjectives to describe how it tasted like, so let me just put it this way:

Think of your favorite food. Yeah, it tasted like that.

A faint moan escaped my lips, and I quickly regretted it as soon as it came out.

Usui was right. I was starving. It was baloney that I wasn't hungry.

"Uh, I mean… Umm…" I said, to cover up the moan. "Err…"

Usui shushed me up and scooped more broth for me to drink.

Eventually, the bowl was empty and my body seemed stronger than it was before. For starters, my stomach wasn't grumbling anymore.

Inside my comforter cocoon, I felt comfortable. I wasn't starving – still hungry, just not starving – anymore, and I was quite protected from the biting cold temperature. Well, my body was, anyway. My face was, unfortunately, exposed. In fact, my neck and most of my upper chest was exposed.

Usui set down the empty bowl aside and stood up, brushing himself off. This was when a wave of gratitude washed over me.

"T-thank you," I blurted out quickly.

Usui turned his head to look at me. First his face was just like usual, unreadable and – I hate to admit this, but I should – quite attractive. I bet I wasn't the first girl he had been on a bed with, so to speak, if you know what I'm saying.

"Not a problem," he replied, before stretching his arms and paced across the room.

"What time is it?" I suddenly asked, startling the blonde.

"Huh? It's around midnight," he replied casually as he ruffled his blond hair in front of a mirror in the other side of the room.

"So I haven't slept at all?" I asked, feeling that it was odd, since I felt like I had slept for at least a decade.

"No, you've slept through a whole day."

Wow.

"And, umm," I fiddled around with my blanket and comforter, "why am I here?"

He looked at me through the corner of his eyes. "You broke the rules, didn't you? Well, that's what I heard from people."

I ignored the fact that they were gossiping about me, even though it was pretty annoying. Instead, I corrected him, "I mean, why am I_ here?_ As in, this room. Why am I not inside the bright one, the one with the tiles and all?"

"Oh. I ordered them to move you here," he said as he unbuttoned his white, hip-length tunic. I couldn't see if he was wearing anything underneath or nothing at all, since he was facing away from me.

Ordered? He _ordered_ people to move me here?

"Who are you, anyway, Usui? And don't tell me your name, because I know it," I asked, turning my body a little towards him, my hands clutching the blanket where it was on my chest, holding it in place.

He stayed silent for a while, his fingers still fiddling around with his suit. I was deciding that he didn't want me to know – which would contribute as another reason to him being a traitor – when he replied.

"A prince."

My jaw dropped.

I mean, I should've known that he was a prince, right? After all, he had a deeper Class accent than anyone else I had met – the higher your position in the Class, the deeper your accent would be; most of the time. And Usui could change between both, accented and not accented.

But no, I didn't think anything so complex would happen to me. No, I only thought that Usui was a stranger that I met in the woods that wouldn't cause any harm to me because he couldn't even pet a rabbit – _hare_ – right.

Yeah, I was an idiot.

But what he said only had the full impact on me when I realized that the room was his. So you know what that means?

Yeah, I was inside a _prince's_ bedroom. A Class' prince. Weak. Vulnerable. Freezing. _Barely clothed._

Now, if that doesn't give your stomach a punch then you haven't been concentrating enough.

The room remained silent until Usui had finally finished unbuttoning his tunic and pushed aside the door beside the mirror.

"If you don't mind, I will take a bath now," he said, as if I didn't know.

I wished I hadn't, though.

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**Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh my goodness... You have no idea how busy I am these days. It's Student Council business. asdfghjkl**.

**Anyway, I have tons of paperwork to do now, so I got to go. Sorry for not answering the reviews!**

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The second I heard the water flow, I attempted to escape. Because if I had the chance to escape at all, it would be now.

I had been gone for a whole day. Mom and Suzuna must be worried sick.

I positioned my legs straight and pushed myself up using my hands. At my first attempt, I almost cracked my skull by smashing my head to the sharp edge of the bed side table. At me second, I almost cracked my rib by the same method. It was at my third attempt that I finally managed to get on both of my feet.

I, my hands holding my blanket and comforter on my chest, hopped across the room, like that rabbit in the woods, but I was trying to not think about that.

The splashing of water suddenly disappeared, and I felt my heart hammered inside my chest.

No, I thought. He is not going to find me escaping. He will put even more thorny stuff to bond my limbs if he does.

Quickly, I jumped towards the door from which Usui had entered the room, carefully trying not to trip over my own feet and the comforter.

Why couldn't Usui just ordered someone to clothe me, anyway? It would make it easier for me to move.

Which could be exactly why he didn't clothe me. He didn't want me to move so much. Okay, I got it.

I was just about to pull the handle of the door when I heard Usui step out of the bathroom and steam and lavender soap scent filled in the room.

"See, this is exactly why I didn't release you," I heard him say.

I whirled around, expecting to see him holding a knife to punish me of attempting to escape, but only finding him in a blue, silk robe, sitting on the edge of the bed I had slept on.

"Well," I tried to defend myself, "I wouldn't have tried to escape if you have released me."

He looked at me, evidently not convinced. "Yeah, of course you wouldn't. You would just stay there in the corner of the room while you know that the exit to the room is just right there. Right."

God, you have no idea how much I was resisting the urge to jam my thumb inside his eye sockets right then.

"Get back here," he said calmly, without any force or anything. But I felt like doing it, despite my hatred for him.

"Why are you keeping me here? Why am I here? Like, in this room?" I asked as I made my way back to the corner of the room. "Why can't I be in the tiled room?" _At least I would be alone_.

Usui ignored my question and said, "By 'here', I meant the bed. Not the floor."

Glaring at the blonde, I slowly stood up the same way I did when I was attempting my escape and carefully sat on the furthest edge of the bed from him. "Answer my question. Why am I here?"

He turned around to see me then.

"Instead of being executed in public, you," he said in monotone, "are going to be paid to do as I say."

This struck me in the head more than any stone could.

I was going to _'do as he says'?_ What did that even mean?

Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "I'm not going to sleep with you."

The second I realized what I had said, I regretted every word of it.

Usui looked at me oddly, like I was a lunatic that requested him to poison me. But if you think about it, maybe what I said did sound like that, in a way.

The blond prince stood up and walked circled the bed towards my side of it. Seeing what he was doing, I scooted back towards the cushioned headboard. My heart started to hammer.

"W-what are you doing? Get back!" I stammered, using my feet to kick try to kick him away. "Get away from me!"

My nerves started signaling me to run, not that I wasn't feeling like running myself. But that would be impossible with my limbs bonded like that, wouldn't it?

"G-get away!" I said.

My breathing became shallow and unsteady. My body was trembling so bad that even if Usui was to release my bonds right then, my feet wouldn't be able to carry me away from the place.

He was right beside me when his hand suddenly shot out and pulled the comforter away from me, flinging me onto the bed with only a short sheet of blanket around me to cover my skin. My body bounced on the mattress before slowly settling down.

Now what happened next was really traumatizing and, needless to say, quite unnerving.

Usui jumped on top of me, the comforter above us, trapping us in utter darkness and silence. For a second, all I could hear was my heart drumming inside my chest.

It took me a moment to realize what he did and why we were in so much darkness. His legs trapped my own, and his elbows were on the either sides of my shoulders, his hands clutching the damned comforter.

I could feel all the blood rushing up to my face, and for once I was happy to be in the dark.

"Now," Usui whispered in my ear, his breath licking my heating face. "That was quite an idea you have there."

My hands clutched the blanket around me tighter, wishing my heart would stop cracking my ribs.

"Don't you even think about doing it," he said.

I don't know how he could've known. But I was planning to ram up my knees up to the place where it counts. You know, so I could escape the hellhole.

And to really avoid me doing so, Usui pinned down both my legs with his shin. He wasn't necessarily pinning them down so hard that it would stop the circulation in my legs, but just hard enough to keep me from lifting them up.

"W-what are y-you d-doing?" I stammered, purposefully avoiding his gaze. "G-get o-off m-m-me."

"Do you really think that your sleeping with me was what I meant?" he asked, lifting a hand to caress my face. His mere touch sent shivers down my spine. And I wasn't sure if those were the good ones or the bad ones.

"I – I mean – Maybe – I – Uh," my tongue tripped over words.

Usui let out a soft chuckle and said, "You are one heck of a girl, aren't you?"

I didn't know if that was supposed to make me feel better or if it was just a mere insult. So I just remained silent as his fingers traveled from my cheek to my chin… to my neck… and down low.

My heart jerked as I quickly attempted to yelp away from his touch when I realized where his finger was invading _way_ too much of my already-small amount of personal space, but found myself trapped in between the pillars of Usui's hands. Oh, and the weight from his leg on mine.

"S-s-stop…" I said, worrying my bottom lip so much that I could've sworn I tasted blood.

His hand rested in between my collar bones. "Your heart is beating rather hard, no? Are you actually enjoying this?"

What the heck was wrong with the guy's head? I was _not_ enjoying it. I was _not_ enjoying it at all.

"N-no! I-I'm not!" I muttered, my cheeks going to a deeper shade of red. "Y-you p-pervert!"

His hand touched my cheek, and all of my love to the darkness disappeared when he said, "Your cheek is really hot. Are you actually blushing?"

Admitting that I was – blushing, I mean – would mean admitting that I enjoyed it. I have no idea how they are connected, but they just do. The mysteries in life that I will never understand.

"N-no! I-it's… T-the f-fever! Yes, the fever!" I retorted as I thanked myself for remembering that fever business. "W-which reminds me. You should p-probably get off me, s-so that y-you wouldn't g-get sick, too."

"Now, would you look at that? You care about me," he murmured, and I could feel his forehead touching mine, followed by his nose on mine. And soon after his mouth would follow, isn't that right?

But no. I quickly turned my face away from him and sank my head deeper into the mattress.

I waited for the lips that would land on my jaw, but it didn't come. Huh, guess he wasn't planning to land his lips on mine.

God, I thought, this really needs to stop.

"G-get o-off," I said for the very last time, feeling like all my energy had been sucked out of my body. "Just, please…"

Usui chuckled and, in one swift motion, exited the little tent of comforter that he made, but yet still leaving me under it.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I lifted the comforter away from my face, for breathing reasons.

"Relax, I'm not going to pay you to sleep with me. Instead," Usui said as he walked towards the exit of the room, "you're going to be my servant."

Oh, good. So I wasn't –

_WHAT?_

"Be good, sleep tight. Your job starts tomorrow," the blonde said before exiting the room.

And the lights went out, leaving me in complete darkness except for the pink light – the sun must be setting then – from the small gap in between the curtains.

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**How did you like the fluffy scene? Too much sexual harassment?**

**Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am so terribly sorry for taking so long to update. I am currently burning up with a fever, and I don't exactly have that much free time to do this so I decided that I'll leave you guys with this long chapter until the next time I update. And I'm breaking my curfew right now, so I'm sorry that I can't reply to the reviews.**

**Enjoy.**

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You know that feeling when you don't feel tired but the second you lay down on your bed, your whole body just begs you to go to sleep?

Yeah, that's exactly how I felt the minute the door closed behind Usui. Only the fatigue that I felt probably exceeds any that any of you have ever felt before. Because, chances are, you never had your hands and legs bonded before.

And you probably never had a – I'll admit it – really attractive guy harass you – yes, that, I consider, as a sexual harassment – on a king-sized bed, under a thick comforter, with you barely clothed.

Anyone wants to correct me?

No, I don't think so.

So when I finally settled down to sleep – I placed myself on the very edge of the bed, on the off chance that Usui would come back and sleep on the same bed as I was – it really wasn't that hard to close my eyes and wander off to my dreamland.

Which consisted of me, draped in a sleeveless dress so fancy and exposing that I felt like a princess, sitting on a bench, canopied by branches and leaves so thick that it provided me with no light whatsoever to see who I was sitting with.

Beside me was a man's silhouette in clothing that looked like mine, only male version.

My white-horse-riding, heart-twanging prince charming, I thought.

He was saying a bunch of nonsense about how beautiful and graceful I looked, and my mouth moved, complimenting him back with words I never knew existed.

It was a beautiful scene, really it was. It was not the first time I had dreamed about it, but I don't usually brag about dreams like that.

When I was young, my dad used to tell me stories about how one day I would meet my 'one true love' and how he would be the best man on earth, just like himself. My dad, I mean.

Yeah, apparently, the best man on earth thought that leaving his wife and two daughters isn't an immoral thing to do.

Then my mom, who had always been there when my dad told me the story, informed me that my destined lover wasn't going to be like him at all, after he left us. Which, if you think about it, wasn't all that comforting, since I bet my mom's mother had told her that before.

But it was only when I had turned sixteen that I finally realized how desperate I was for a man. I mean, yeah, I was hostile toward men and I place no trust in them, but that didn't mean that I wasn't longing for the time where a guy would caress my cheeks, whispering soothing words in my ears while I sleep.

Okay, that sounds creepy. But… whatever.

So that was what my prince charming did in my dream.

He placed my head down onto his lap, his fingers dancing around my face gently, like silk being dragged through the wind. He whispered promises of how he would make _'our love'_ work and that we would have each other, forever. For a second, I felt like I was in heaven.

A gentle breeze strolled by, and my hair got blown. I didn't care about my hair sticking on my face, he was going to scoop it up and tuck it behind my ear, anyway.

Only, he didn't.

Instead, I felt him tug under my dress – my _sleeveless_ dress – and my eyes popped open.

Only when I opened my eyes, I didn't see a silhouette of the same guy who had lent me his lap to lay my head on. You know who I saw?

You guessed it: Usui.

"Gah!" I shoved him away from my face and rolled sideways, away from him.

Usui quickly straightened up, both of his hands up – the universal sign to saying _'whoah-chill-dude-I'm-not-going-to-do-anything'_ – and quickly backed away like I was on fire.

"What," I demanded, "are you _doing?_"

"I was trying to change you into a dress. You were shivering like crazy. And your fever isn't going down, either," he said.

Was he _out of his freaking mind?_

"What, you were planning to _change_ a member of the opposite sex, _without their permission_, when they are _asleep?_" I yelled at him, my hands over my chest to calm my pounding heart. "What are you? A… a…" I was going to say rapist, but I didn't want to risk being sexually harassed again, so I said, "An _ignoramus with frail and miniscule intellect?_"

How's that for vocabulary, huh?

He squinted at me, his face evidently saying, "What does that mean?"

Or I hoped it was what the expression was saying, anyway.

"No, I believe I am not an uneducated man with tiny knowledge."

Well, so much for my expression-reading.

"Couldn't you just wake me up? Like how _any other people would do?_" I asked, and not in a very feminine way, either. "Because you definitely, without a doubt, have no knowledge about a female's personal space. _And how you are invading mine._"

"Look," he said, and it was only then that I realized how tired he looked. He had shadows under his eyes and the tone he was speaking in wasn't a bit filled with authority. "Just change, okay? You're really boiling up."

I stayed quiet for a moment, and that was when I noticed that the pounding wasn't from my heart. It was from my head. My vision was blurry, my eyes filled with tears. Nausea filled my stomach. I was freezing outside, while burning inside.

And I cannot tell you how uncomfortable it was.

"Here," Usui handed me a folded white thing, which I assumed to be the dress he was trying to change me into.

I eyed him suspiciously, thinking whether or not I should attack him when I was on my feet. It could work, I suppose, only my nausea was in the way.

Finally, having decided that it would just be a reckless move from my part to tackle him, I snatched the dress, its fabric soft against my freezing fingers, and stood up. That was when I realized something…

"Tell me, Prince Usui, how the heck am I supposed to change when my hands are bonded tight together?" This, I thought, can be my only chance to get Usui to open my shackles.

Really, I don't know why the call them shackles. They should've named them… _thorn-kles?_

Well, excuse me, but I didn't say that I was the naming type, did I?

But Usui didn't release me, much to my dismay. Instead, he tossed back my words at me, which I didn't find really pleasing.

"Which is exactly why," he said, "I was trying to get you into it myself. I figured it was better to have you unconscious – you know, so that you wouldn't feel so embarrassed about the whole thing – than to have you completely conscious and more than aware of what I was doing."

Gritting my teeth, I stormed – correction, _hopped –_ towards the door Usui went in when he said he was going to take a bath.

"You wish!" I shouted without once looking at him. "I'm not going to ever – _ever_ – let you change me into anything, you pervert! Invading my personal space is enough!"

And I slammed the door close.

I heaved a sigh and clicked a switch beside the wooden door frame. And to say that I was shocked would be an understatement of the grossest kind.

You won't believe it. The bathroom was _as big as bedroom_. All cream and gold and filled with marble-carved furniture. The floor and walls were covered with tiles. The only thing made out of wood was the legs of a stool.

On a corner was a short set of stairs, leading up to a big container with a faucet – learned that in school before – shooting out and curving back in. A bathtub, I believe that's called.

I tore my gaze away from the glittering bathtub and focused on getting myself dressed. Another look at the remaining furniture I haven't described would make me fascinate over the whole room and not actually doing what I was supposed to do.

I stripped myself off the blanket, which wasn't that hard since all I had to do was to let go of the pile I had scrunched up just above my chest. Getting into the white dress, however, wasn't all that easy.

But somehow, I managed to do it. Get into the dress, I mean. It had this zigzag lacing thing on the back that went down to my lower back, which meant I could just hop into the thing and weave it back up after.

Here's the thing about the whole lace thing, though. Once you unlaced it and you're in the dress, you need to lace it back up. And in order for a person to do that is to reach to her back. Quite impossible with _bonded hands_, isn't it?

Unless, of course, if there is another person there to help you lace it up. But the only person that was there was…

NO.

But, really, what choice did I have? I couldn't possibly go back to the towel and shiver the temperature out of me and have me frozen like icicles by morning. And I couldn't really stay in the bathroom for God knew how long. Usui would think I was attempting to escape – through the water drainage, since there wasn't any windows or doors except for the one I entered from – and force open the door and see me still trying to lace the dress all by myself and…

You get the picture.

I don't want you to think that I didn't try to lace it back. I really did. But, of course, it didn't work. Or else I wouldn't have done what I did.

With fitfully shaking hands, heart thrashing in my chest and cheeks burning, I opened the door just big enough to pop my head, and only my head, out.

"You done?" Usui looked up at from where he sat on the side of the bed.

"Umm," I blinked, my eyes looking at the floor, my toes, the legs of the bed, anywhere but him. "C-can you do me a favor?"

I couldn't believe I was going to do it. To ask a guy – a _sexually harassing, personal space invading, arrogant, rich, Class prince_ – to help me _lace up my dress_. And probably exposing more skin than when I was only wearing the blanket.

Oh, God. I should've stayed in the bathroom. I don't care if he was going to see me trying to idiotically lace up the dress with my hands bonded, at least I wouldn't get the embarrassment of having to ask _him_ to help me lace it up.

But it was too late then, wasn't it?

Usui blinked at me for a while – trying to comprehend what I just said, I supposed – before saying, "Yeah, sure."

I could swear my cheeks were vibrating with pinkish-red light when I was approaching him.

"C-can y-you l-l-l-_lace_ t-the d-dress for m-me?" My fingers fidgeted the soft cloth of the dress.

Usui stood up then. When I stopped just two feet away from him, he circled me and stopped behind me. Soon after, I felt his fingers pulling up the laces, occasionally touching my skin in process.

All I thought when he started lacing it up was about how I wished he couldn't hear how hard my heart was punching my chest from the inside.

And how my body shivered a little whenever his fingers brushed against my skin.

And how much heat I was radiating out from my face.

My thoughts, however, were interrupted when the silence we were in was disturbed by Usui's voice.

"I'm sorry."

My eyes widened in shock. One, because I wouldn't have thought that such a phrase would ever escape the lips of the blonde. Two, because I had no idea why he was sorry and what he was sorry for.

"For treating you so badly," he continued, his fingers not once stopping from weaving the silk lace. "I shouldn't have done so."

Treating me so badly? For one moment, I was completely perplexed as to what he just said.

But soon my mind was barraged with things my annoyed self thought he did that he should be ashamed about. Like, say, sexually harassing me on a bed? Not wanting to release me from the shackles? _Trying to change me when I'm asleep without my permission?_

Gee, I wonder what he was so sorry about.

"To make up for all that," he said, "I'm going to release you."

A shout of excitement was just about to escape my mouth when he quickly added, "In one condition, though. You have to promise me that you will never attempt to escape again."

Usually, I wouldn't have agreed to this, since, of course, the only reason I wanted to be released from my shackles was to escape. But I figured that being released but still in the castle was better than not being released at all.

So I nodded.

"And just so you know, you won't be serving me tomorrow. I just asked the authority to make you my servant so that they can spare you from public execution. If there isn't anyone in the room, you won't need to treat me like royalty," he said, his voice very gentle.

Then I felt his hand over a wound that hadn't healed yet on my back. Or should I say, a wound I got when the two guards stripped me off my clothes. I flinched when he traced it with his hand.

"Where'd you get this from?" he asked, suddenly sounding worried.

I clenched the dress. "W-when I was… The two guards…" I didn't want to say 'stripped,' but really, what choice did I have? "When the two guards stripped me…"

I could hear a soft gasp coming from Usui, before he beckoned me to lie down on the bed so that he could treat it.

"N-no, it's okay. It'll heal soon," I said, my feet not moving an inch. "I've dealt with worse wounds than that. Really, it'll be fine soon."

He looked worriedly me – now he was beside me and not behind me – and said, "No. It may get infected. Please, I insist."

"No!" I took another step back. Lying on the bed because I was placed there was one thing. Lying on the bed with orders from my mind would mean that I had completely lost my mind. If Usui thought that I was going to lie there and have him sexually harass me again, then he was wrong.

He sighed and approached me. I took another step back…

…Only I never got to land that foot, because in less than a tenth of a second, Usui was carrying me, bridal style, towards the bed.

"G-get me down!" I screamed while I thrashed around. But it was no use; he had an iron grip on me.

"This may be why your fever hasn't gone down yet. Your wounds may be infected already."

"But my wounds aren't infected!" I objected.

He laid me on my stomach gently on the bed, before sitting down beside me and unlacing the dress again.

"D-don't unlace it, idiot! What are you doing?" I craned my neck to face the blonde. "I told you, it's fine!"

"Shhh," he shushed. "I'm just going to give it some medicine. It doesn't look like it's infected yet, so it'll just prevent infection."

Usui stood up, went somewhere that I couldn't see because I was lying on my stomach, and went back with a wooden box filled with jars of things I didn't know. He popped open one and dropped a few drops of liquid on my back.

First it felt cold against my heating flesh. It was kind of soothing, for a moment. Like how ice would feel on a very hot day.

Then the liquid entered my wound, and I nearly passed out with the pain.

I tried to hide the wince that had escaped my mouth by clenching the bed sheet with both of my hands. But, of course, nothing gets by that perverted blonde.

"I know. It will hurt a bit, but it will be much better than infection," he said in turns to try to calm me down.

"Okay. So you applied the medicine. May I stand up now?" I asked, gritting my teeth in pain.

I was hoping for a, 'Oh yeah. Sure.' But I didn't get what I wanted.

Instead, I got the exact opposite of it.

"No. We are going to treat _all_ of your wounds, no matter you like it or not," he said, tugging at the lace to unweave it.

_All_ of my wounds? Well, that would mean me stripping back off, and I was _not_ going to do that.

Usui seemed to have understood my discomfort about the subject, since a moment after I thought about it, he said, "The ones that I can reach without having to expose more of your skin than you would want to, I mean."

Really, I was confused. Usui was an idiotic stranger when I had met him in the woods. Then he had been a complete arrogant jerk when I first woke up in the room. And now he was as gentle as a feather!

Really, just how many sides can a person have?

"You can sleep, if you want," he said after having unwove the laces.

I was going to retort a very ugly word to him when a realization came in to me. You wouldn't feel the embarrassment of having a guy treat your wounds on your back that much if you're asleep. So if you think about it, he was actually offering something good.

But on the other hand, you would be completely unaware of what he's doing if you're asleep. So…

I shook my head to get rid of the latter. I was sure that he wouldn't do such a thing…

…Pretty sure, anyway.

So I closed my eyes and envisioned myself back with my prince charming from my dream. His delicate hands, caressing my skin, sending tingles all over my body.

And I was happy for a few hours before I was awakened by the sounds of the birds.

Oh, and the constant blow in my ear from _a particular __someone_.

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	11. Chapter 11

**OMG. I'm so SORRY for not updating these days! I've been absurdly busy...**

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"Do you really like my touch so much that you slept through the whole morning?"

I jerked open my eyes, meeting huge green orbs that seemed to glitter and reflect my hazel ones.

"You do, don't you?" Usui said.

I gasped and quickly sat up, bumping my forehead with his in the process.

"Ouch," I said, rubbing the area where my forehead made impact with the blond prince's.

"Good afternoon, sleeping beauty," he said while sitting next to me. "How are you feeling?"

I considered his question with my still-fuzzy mind. My head wasn't pounding anymore, which was great because a pounding head is never a good thing. I wasn't burning inside – at least, not that much – anymore, which means that my fever had gone down. Even if just a little bit.

"Fine," I muttered. "What were you doing, anyway, scrutinizing me like that?"

"Oh," he said in a tone so casual that it annoyed me. "Just admiring you in your sleep."

"You creep," I murmured, even though I could feel my cheeks go warm and my heart give a happy – err, _annoyed_ yelp.

Then a knock sounded from the door, and Usui stood up, pulling my hand as he did.

"My Lord, your horse is ready. Do you need anything else?" a voice dripping with the Class accent filled the room.

"No," Usui shouted. "I will be out in a few."

"Understood."

I stared at the blond, dumbfounded. And it was all I could do to not gape at him.

For the first time, I actually heard someone speak so eloquently. His voice wasn't exactly commanding, but it was enough to let one know that he had power and authority. And yet it sounded so gentle.

He looked down at me – he was at least a head taller than me – and smiled.

He actually _smiled!_

At _me!_

I quickly turned away, hiding my flaming cheeks from him. It was embarrassing enough to admit, even if it wasn't out loud, that his voice was gentle; I didn't need to let him see me blush.

"W-what?" I said, still not turning to face him.

He chuckled, and my heart started to pound against my chest. His voice was so low, so gentle, so…

_Perfect_.

I quickly buried that thought deep and away from my mind, wanting to think about it no more.

"I'm going to the woods," he said, and my eyes widened. "Want to come with?"

"Yes!" I said before I even had the chance to turn to look at him. "Yes, please."

He chuckled again before muttering, "Thought so."

Usui made his way to the bedside table, on which a pair of ivory white gloves was on.

"When are we going?" I asked, my eagerness evident in my voice. "Soon, right?"

He walked back beside me, leaned down and whispered in my ear, "When we exit this room, keep your head down and don't look at anyone. Pretend that we have never spoken – not in the woods, not in this room – and that you're still very upset as to what they did to you the night you were taken here. Got it?"

I nodded quickly, taken aback by how serious he sounded.

"Why?" I whispered back.

"Because they will know that I lied and send you back to execution."

I gulped as he pulled back and walked towards the door. I tailed behind him.

_Krk…_

A gust of wind slapped my face the second the door was opened. I was – or rather, Usui was – greeted with two guards on either side of the double door. And no, they weren't the ones who… you know.

I looked down at my feet, and realized that I was wearing a pair of plain moccasins. Usui must've gotten me into them.

And I didn't even want to think about what else he did.

"Good afternoon, My Lord," one of the guards greeted Usui. "Your horse is ready in the stable."

"Thank you," Usui replied, and we made our way through broad hallways, all bright and filled with beautiful and elegant frames of pictures of previous Kings and Queens and marble-carved furniture. But I didn't get to look at all of them, because I had kept my head down like how Usui said.

When we were out of the castle and into fresh air, I felt my lungs expand. I just realized how suffocating it was to be inside the enormous mansion, and now that we were out of there, I could finally fully fill my lungs with ease.

"Ahh," I exhaled. The coolness of the air – even though it was almost noon, judging by the position of the sun – brushed against my skin and blew my hair slightly. I tell you, the nature is my second home. "Finally. Some fresh air."

Usui chuckled and said, "Here, my horse should be in that stable right there." He pointed towards a small, run-down stable about twenty yards to our left.

And you know what he did next?

He casually _grabbed my hand_, and dragged me all the way to the stable.

Oh, while saying, "Come on! Let's go!"

Weird, eh?

But he didn't do it in that geeky way a kindergarten student would do. No, he did it in the cool way a senior would do.

Which made me wonder…

"Hey, Usui?" I called out to him.

"Mhm?" he turned his head towards me.

"H-how old are you?" I asked.

He stopped running, looked up like he was thinking what his age was – was this guy for real? – before smiling at me.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked, a smug expression plastered on his face.

I looked at the ground while shifting from one foot to another. "Err… Just curious, you know? But if you don't want to tell me then that's fine. I mean, I would – "

And out of the blue, his hand shot out.

Oh, not to cup my face in that romantic way or anything – but his hand did touch my cheek.

No, he didn't cup my face. He _slapped_ my face.

I was dumbfounded. Really, I was. If he had kissed me I wouldn't have been that surprised. I mean, he did sexually harass me once, who was I to say that he wasn't going to do it again?

But seriously? He was _that_ unwilling to tell me his age that he decided to _slap_ me? Who does that, anyway?

Apparently, the arrogant, blond prince in front of me does.

My shock, however, was soon replaced by anger.

I didn't deserve getting slapped. Sure, I might have been a little impolite to a prince as to ask his age, but he didn't seem to be the slapping type, you know?

But just when I was about to call him with my rather large collection of colorful words, he grabbed a chunk of my hair and started pulling towards the stable.

Yeah, and there I was calling him gentle.

I didn't wail, though. If he thought that I was that weak, well, he was up for a disappointment.

All the way there, I was seriously thinking about how wrong my impressions about him were. He was everything _but_ gentle. His touch wasn't soft and warming. No, it was harsh and cold. As cold as those green eyes of his.

And he wasn't attractive. No, not at all.

Sure, he got nice blond hair that sways with the wind. And yeah, maybe those cold, cold eyes compliment his features. And…

I should really stop, shouldn't I?

I was brought back to reality when Usui suddenly went to a complete halt, and I, who was only grabbed by the hair and nothing else, almost fell flat on my face into a pile of horse… _waste_. And if it wasn't for my superlative body balance, I would've done so, too.

When Usui released me – my hair, actually – I turned around to face him and glared at him. Oh yeah, his eyes weren't the only ones who could send cold chills down one's spine.

"What," I growled, "was _that_ about?"

He didn't say anything. Oh no, he didn't say anything. Not. A. Single. Thing.

Instead, you know what he did? He got on a horse – a white, freshly groomed one – and ordered me to get a horse for myself.

Yeah, you read that right. He _ordered_ me. And he didn't do it in a very gentle manner, either.

Whatever.

I rolled my eyes and started looking for one. A horse, I mean. And it wasn't long before I found one.

The horse that I got on was brown, covered with a few white blotches here and there. It wasn't as strong looking as the one Usui's, but it was a horse all the same. I didn't believe that a good horse should be a good-looking one. I learned that good-looking things aren't always good from _a certain blond dude_.

After seeing that I had found a horse for myself, he stirred the horse out of the stable and started yanking on the rope, which caused the horse to start running.

Now, I won't lie to you, but I had no experience with riding horses. I didn't have horses back home. Not only that they cost a heck lot, they also require a lot of care and space, both of which I lack of at home. So I seriously had no clue on how you stir a horse or how you ask them to run. The closest thing I had to a clue was Usui's yanking of the rope. So guess what I did?

I yanked the rope.

And promptly realize that not only was it a bad idea, but it was also an idea that could've gotten me killed.

The horse rose to its hind legs, pedaling its two front ones. I clutched the rope harder, holding on for dear life. And I screamed my lungs out.

I kept on screaming when the horse came back to all fours and started running like crazy. The fact that it was running soothed me a little, but the fact that it was running like insane made my fear came back in full force.

I closed my eyes shut, crouched down and prayed that the horse knew where it was going. I surely didn't want the horse to crash a tree or anything. That wouldn't be too good for both my health and the horse's or anything.

I felt the horse make a series of turns and loops and it even jumped really high this one time. Yeah, my heart seemed to stop when it did that.

Wind was slapping across my face, getting hair into my mouth. My heart, needless to say, was on the edge of stopping forever. I couldn't feel my arms and legs anymore. I was scared as heck.

And then I heard another series of hooves pounding against the ground beside me.

Oh great, I thought. This little horse of mine attracted more horses.

I really thought that I was caught inside a horse stampede. Embarrassing, I know, but I didn't know better, okay? That was, of course, before my horse stopped running suddenly.

And I, you know, fell over the horse.

All I thought about when I fell over was how thankful I was that I didn't fell on a pile of horse droppings.

"Ouch," I flinched when my body got dragged about an inch from where I first fell on the floor by the force.

"Down! Down!"

Slowly, I opened my eyes and scanned my surroundings. There wasn't a group of horses as how I thought there was. The only horses that were there were my horse and –

_Usui?_

"Are you alright?" he asked from where he was on his horse, holding my struggling one. That, I counted, would be the third time he had asked that idiotic question ever since we met.

I nodded and tried to stand up…

… And had to clench my dress in order not to shout my throat out in pain.

Usui quickly hopped down from his horse and helped me up to my feet. I didn't reject his offer, because I highly doubt I could move by myself. Whenever I tried to move a limb, there would always be this nagging pain in between the joints and on the surface of the skin.

He helped me to a nearby tree, where he then helped me extend my legs. He then kneeled beside them, facing me.

"Which part of your body is hurt?" he asked with so much worry in his voice that it almost made me forget what he did a while ago. Almost, but not quite.

"Why do you even care?" I asked rather hastily, my voice full of hostility, while looking at my now-tattered dress.

I could feel his stare, piercing through the wall of my anger towards him. Well, too bad for him, I had more than just a wall of anger against him. Humiliation was one of them.

"What do you mean, why do I even care? Of course I care. I – " he started, before I rudely interrupted him.

"If you cared so much than why did you slap me, huh? And all the hair yanking?" I bellowed.

Now I was looking at him. I was looking at him straight in the eyes. I wanted him to know that I was hurt. Badly. And not just physically because of that damned horse, either.

But what became my question was: Why was I hurt? Surely, for hurt to be present, there must be affection first, right? But if I was hurt, doesn't that mean that I… actually had feelings for him?

No! I mentally slapped myself for ever thinking about him like that. No, he was just a random guy who saved me from my public execution. I was hurt because I had gratitude towards him. And even though I didn't know for sure how gratitude could lead to hurt, I believed in my theory, anyway.

"Really," I continued, "I don't know which of you I should believe in. You were this stranger when we met in the woods. Then you became this arrogant Class prince with your filthy accent. Soon after you were this perverted, sexually harassing pig that invaded my personal space. Probably a couple hours after that, you were this kind and helpful prince who helped me lace up my dress. And just now…"

I was babbling. I knew that for sure. Tears were trickling down my cheeks.

Yes, I was _crying_. And you can probably count using the fingers on one hand how much I did that before.

What made matters worse, however, was this feeling inside my chest. Something bittersweet.

Hurt, that could only be.

"…Now you're this… this… c-caring guy…" I let my voice trail off right then. I didn't think that further explanations were necessary.

I looked back down at my dress, my naked toes – one of my moccasins fell off somewhere – anywhere but him. He was left inarticulate for a minute or two, and I thought, just for a second there, that I had hit all the right spots.

But he decided to speak up right then.

"I'm sorry," he said, his tone as gentle as a feather. "I didn't mean for the slap to hurt."

Well, what did you think? I wanted to say to him. That a slap wouldn't hurt? That your pulling my hair wasn't painful? Gee, with a rank as high as yours, one would think that you had better knowledge on these stuff.

But there was this cursed cotton ball inside my throat that prevented me from saying it all out.

"And I'm sorry for how I've treated you since your arrival. I didn't mean to be arrogant, and I didn't mean to intrude your personal space or sexually harass you in any way," he continued. "And the slap and yank before. I'm… I'm sorry."

Whoa. This was definitely more than what I had expected. I mean, seriously? He didn't really need to state out all his sins. I wasn't asking for a prayer of forgiveness to our creator.

"There were people watching us, back in the palace. I've got to treat you cruelly, that's how they treat servants back there. Even in the stable, they've got eyes and ears everywhere," Usui reached out to cup my cheek. The cheek that he slapped. The cheek that was still pounding and hot, fresh from his palm. "I'm sorry…"

There was silence in between us. It seemed that there were so many words left unspoken. Words of explanation as to why he acted like how he did.

But it seemed that words weren't able to convey how we were feeling.

Hurt. Betrayed. Cheated. Humiliated. Uneasy. Lightheaded.

No, those words weren't able to convey all what I was feeling then. What _we_ were feeling then. They were just not that right…

With one hand cupping my cheek, Usui brought my face nearer to his, and brought his face down to mine. And I didn't even budge when our lips met, because how could I? It felt perfect on mine, like it was created to fit the curves of my lips.

And suddenly, no words could explain how we were feeling except for one:

Love.

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**Yeaaa... Crappy.**

**Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**WOW. It has been almost a month since I last updated?**

**I'm so sorry! The past month is probably the busiest that I've lived through. I'm having finals this week and the teachers were not showing us any signs of mercy.**

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The days after that were probably the worst that I have lived through.

After Usui had removed his lips from mine, he quickly stood up and went inside the woods with his horse. I, having learnt the hard way that riding a horse wasn't my specialty, decided to drag the horse instead of riding it, and followed him in.

After that, the day was spent in complete silence. The only time he had spoken to me was when he asked me to ride his tamed horse, while he himself was going to ride on the one I chose. Apparently, the horse that I picked wasn't fully tamed yet. Oh, and the time he asked me to sleep on the bed.

All my attempts of having a conversation with him failed. He had been avoiding me like a plague.

And that was how I had been living for a whole week.

Not speaking to anyone.

Not speaking to Usui.

Usually, I would've been delighted as heck to not have to speak with other people. This time, however, I was on the brink of sanity. I mean, seriously, if he was planning to punish me for all I did, why must he do it in such an unnerving way?

Especially after what had happen just before it.

And for those of you who have problems with using context clues, I was referring to the _ kiss._

So when Usui decided to go to the woods with me again, I was probably squealing in joy inside.

"Yes!" I squealed. "Oh, yes! Yes!"

Usui, _again_, just ignored my excited reply and stepped out of the door. Really, by then I was seriously considering of attempting a suicide. Death is probably less embarrassing – and not to mention irritating – than having someone you like ignore you like this.

It was only when we were already in the woods – the same one we went to last time, and the same one where I had first met him – that I finally snapped.

"What," I said, stopping dead in my tracks, "is wrong with you?"

Usui, who was leading the path towards who-knew-where, stopped and turned towards me, an odd look on his face.

"What is wrong with me what?" he asked back. "What are you talking about?"

"Why are you ignoring me? Why are you avoiding me? _Why?_" I growled. "Am I that bad of a kisser that you won't talk to me anymore just because of that one stupid kiss? Well, excuse me, but I'm not like you who can just _kiss_ people all they want!"

I started storming away from the spot we were in, surrounded by trees the height of giants. I could not believe what I was saying, that I actually _cared_ about whether or not he talked to me. I just could _not_.

And to think that I actually thought that I… I…

I _loved_ him.

Ugh, disgusting as heck.

No, what I felt wasn't love; it was just my need of being kissed for the very first time fulfilled. Yeah, that wasn't love at all.

I heard footsteps coming towards me. But I didn't stop. No. Instead, I sped up.

So what if he was a white-horse-riding prince? That doesn't make him _my_ white-horse-riding prince charming. My prince charming would never ignore me like how he did for the past week. My prince would never avoid me. Moreover, my prince would never sexually harass me.

Yeah, not like Usui.

The footsteps were getting louder and faster. Hearing it, I quickened up my own pace.

What was I doing, anyway? Why hadn't I escaped? Why was I still there, on the castle grounds? Why wasn't I home, with mom and Suzuna?

That's what I'm going to do, I thought. I'm going to escape right now.

But not a second after the thought came in to my mind, a hand gripped my wrist so hard that I thought it might fall off.

"Ah!" I winced in pain.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

I whirled around, finding Usui staring coldly at me. "You promised you won't attempt to escape."

I was inarticulate for a moment, scared at how cold Usui was looking at me. I felt that hot, prickly feeling behind my eyes. Great, tears were building up.

"I… I… I wasn't e-escaping!" I spluttered. This, of course, wasn't the complete truth since I had thought about doing it.

"Then why are you heading to the direction of your tunnel?" he asked me with that Class accent that I despised.

"I wasn't – Wait, how can you know about my tunnel?" I demanded, feeling like my privacy had been taken away from me completely.

"It isn't important how I – "

Oddly, I was feeling a kind of pleasure on the bottom of my gut. Weird, considering how right then I was arguing with Usui. Must've been some sort of indigestion.

"I want an answer!" I shrieked. "How'd you know my tunnel?"

Usui sighed before answering, "The guards told me, okay? Now – "

"What else did they tell you about me?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him accusingly.

Really, by that point I felt as if I had no privacy left. I had been sexually harassed, my personal space invaded and now they were gossiping about me behind my back? _Seriously?_

"That's all I know," he replied, clearly tired of answering my ridiculous, for him, questions. "Now, if you don't mind, can you _please_ return to the other side of the woods? If not then I'll assume that you were attempting an escape and _will_ bond your limbs again. Did I make myself plain?"

"You won't dare."

Both of his brows rose in mock fear. "Oh, won't I?"

I clenched my fists and, after moments of hesitation, finally sighed and went back to the other side of the woods.

It was on my way back that I realized why I was feeling the pleasure before. Usui was speaking to me. He wasn't ignoring me. No, not at that point.

That's always a good thing, isn't it?

Inside, I was doing my victory dance. I was jumping around like a rabbit, and a smiled crept on my face. My heart was beating hard, and not in the breath-punching way, either.

Outside, however, I was putting on an annoyed face. I forced out all the exasperation out of me. I wanted to look annoyed so bad that it hurt.

When I got to where I had placed my horse – no, it wasn't the brown one – I untied the rope from the bough of a tree and got on the horse.

Inside my head, there were only Usui and I. No horses, no trees, no guards. No, we were completely alone with each other as company.

Scenarios after scenarios were playing inside my head, one being weirder than the other. There was one that showed me running together with him, hand in hand, through the woods. I was dressed in a dress that looked a lot like what I wore in my dream, and he was wearing his usual outfit. We were happy, but in the same time nervous and tired. We were running away from something – someone – and they were coming at us. Fast. Their footsteps sounded like hooves pounding against the ground.

_BAAAM!_

I swear, falling onto the ground from a horse isn't as much fun as you might think it is.

For starters, it _hurts_. And since I fell face-first, my cheeks were the main victim. I felt roots piercing into them. A stem missed my eyes by a whisker, ending up lashing my brows instead.

I muttered a few cuss words that I learned from a friend back in the black market and sat up. Forcing my eyes open, I realized that I was no longer in the area where I had parked my horse in. The sky was dark – probably because it was near sunset at that time – and the trees looked different.

It turned out that when I had hopped on my horse, I wasn't really aware of what I was doing. I was so engulfed in my own scenarios that I didn't even realize when my horse suddenly started running full speed, off to west side of the woods. A.k.a. the dark side.

The side where my father, before he had left my family, said to never come close to.

Which is saying something, you know, considering what dangerous of a man he was.

It occurred to me, a few minutes after I realized that I wasn't in such a good place, that I hadn't been completely unaware of my surroundings. The sounds of hooves against the ground weren't just a figment of my imagination. No, it was the sound of my horse, galloping its way here.

And now I could still hear it galloping away from me, probably on its way to get eaten by some night beasts.

I hoped.

But as I continued to sit there, unable to think of anything other than how scary those trees looked, I slowly became aware of one thing:

I was here, in the dark side of the woods where all the worse-than-bad things loomed over, alone. Not even with that damned horse that brought me here in the first place.

And Usui hadn't had a clue on where I was.

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	13. Chapter 13

Really, I wouldn't usually panic, especially if I was stranded in the woods. Woods had been like my second home. But at that point, I was freaking out.

The trees that canopied me seemed like they were growing, wrapping their branches and vines around me. The boughs seemed to have eyes and mouth, ready to snap open and suck me right in.

The wind was lashing around like crazy, making the branches ruffle even more. The moccasin that I still had left on my foot was threatening to fly away.

This is bad, I thought. This is very, _very_ bad.

"Usui?" I called out as loud as my throat dared to. "Usui? Can you hear me?"

I waited in the silence, wishing that Usui heard me and that he was on his way to save me from the darkness of the night.

But I was up for a disappointment. No one but the constant hoot from owls not visible from where I was sitting at replied to my calling out.

I cupped my elbows and folded my legs against my chest. It was getting really cold that night.

"Usui?" I called out again, on the off chance that he could hear me now. "I'm here, Usui!"

Nothing.

I guess I could've found my way out of there, out of that cursed place. I mean, at least I had a chance of getting out. But my body was shivering like insane that I didn't think that finding my own way out of the place was a very good idea.

Against the silence of the night, my pounding heart sounded like thunder. My eyes were tearing up, and I didn't know if it had been caused by the cold weather or the fear inside me.

"Usui…?"

But my teeth were chattering so hard that his name sounded like, "_Uk-k-k-k-shuk_ – "

Yeah, you get the picture.

I was scared as heck. It was biting cold out here and the place was notorious for the creatures that roamed around the place. People said that the rumor was a hoax, but the people who actually went here to solve the mystery were never seen again. Guess which was more convincing?

Moreover, the place had 'scary' written all over it. Even if I hadn't known about the myth – call it a myth, a rumor, a fact, I don't care – I would've been as scared as I was then.

I gave up calling out to Usui. He couldn't hear me. And even if he could, I highly doubt he would risk his life to go here and save my ass. No, I needed to save my own lazy ass, because in real life, there are no handsome princes to bust us out of our glass coffin and scoop us up to happily ever after. No, in real life, we have to bust out own asses out of our glass coffin.

Yeah, welcome to reality.

I let the realization drown over me for a while, while waiting for my body to settle down enough for me to actually move.

_There's nothing here. Nothing at all. You're brave; you can handle a bit of darkness…_

This proved to be the best way to calm me. People used to tell me to fidget or mess around with a little hairclip if I'm getting nervous or scared. It never worked, because, of course, I couldn't afford to break hairclips just to keep my fear controlled. No, giving myself soothing thoughts were free, and free stuff is always good, no?

So when I was starting to get up to my feet, I was still sending myself – my fear – thoughts about how there was nothing to be scared of, or that I was too old for this, and how awful I always look whenever I get scared.

Okay, maybe not the last one, but you get my point, right?

"Shhh," I hissed, trying to block out my pounding heart. I couldn't possibly shout to block the sound out; I didn't have the guts to do that.

I finally managed to get on both my feet, one of which was bare, and was starting to make my way out of the aggravating place when, suddenly, something broke under my foot.

The night was completely silent for one second. All I could hear was… nothing at –

_CRRRRRSSSSH!_

The ground collapsed below me, sending me falling down at a speed so fast that I didn't have the chance to scream. Or rather, I was falling so fast that the air was punched right out of me, causing me lose the ability to even croak.

Wind lashed through me as I braced myself for my landing. I knew that the impact was going to break at least half of my ribs.

Yeah, sure, some exaggeration was added into that sentence. But whatever…

I waited and waited, while my body accelerated as the fall continued. I sent my prayers to whoever made me that I would be at least be alive after the fall, because if I died, then no one would find my corpse down here, considering how few people ever came here.

And if there was one person who would find my body, I bet the person would still not be able to get my body out of the damned place. He'd be lost. Just as lost as I was right then.

I waited. And waited. And waited.

But it never came.

And I was wondering why it never came when my mind suddenly jumped to a thought:

_What if I'm dead already?_

Oh, boy. I was dead, wasn't I? That was why I couldn't feel the ground; souls can't feel –

_THUD!_

_CRACK! CRACK!_

For the second time in the last 10 minutes, the air in my lungs was knocked out of me.

God, if this continues, I would be dead before I could even get my ass – pardon my constant use of the A word, I'm pissed – out of the hellhole.

I groaned and wheezed for air. I bet if I had a mirror in front of me right now, I would be looking right at an imitation of a fish out of water, gasping for air.

And, oh yeah, _dying_.

I'm not kidding when I tell you this, falling for 10 minutes straight in a speed possibly faster than light and suddenly hitting the ground _hurts_. It hurts _a lot_.

And as if that wasn't enough, I just had to have broken ribs, too, as the cherry on top of my frosting-covered pile of pain. Oh, imagine my joy, boys and girls…

Yeah, I wasn't feeling very good. I wasn't feeling very good at all.

I blinked my eyes open – lucky that I had landed on my back instead of my front; who knew what could've happened to my eyes if I did – and found myself staring up and the dark blue sky, covered by the branches of the trees surrounding me.

Oh, and I also found myself lying down on the bottom of a hole about 5 storeys below ground level.

And with that in my head, and the swiveling stars that showed no sign of receding any time soon, I passed out.


	14. Chapter 14

"Where are you?" my prince called out to me. "I'm going to find you, you do know that right?"

Ha! Yea right! I'm the best when it comes to hide-and-go-seek. No one – _no one_ – can beat me to it. I can't help it; hiding is my middle name.

"Hello?" he chuckled. "Come on, where are you?"

I clamped my hands up to my mouth, trying to stifle down the laughter than was rising in my throat.

I was standing behind a large oak tree, making use of the shadows its branches were casting to hide myself. We had been playing the game for 15 minutes, and I was starting to think that he wasn't even looking for me. I mean, seriously? It didn't matter if I was a master at hiding; I was behind a _tree_, for crying out loud.

He called out to me again, and I could hear his footsteps getting closer.

Only this time, he wasn't calling out to me in that playful tone that he had always used. No, instead, his voice was dripping with worry and panic. His footsteps weren't steady, too. They sounded like hooves.

And as his calling out continued to sound louder and harsher to the ear, and his footsteps sounding more frantic than ever, I had this squiggly feeling down the bottom of my stomach.

And I opened my eyes, looking to a sky so dark you would think I had eye patches on both of my eyes.

Oh, great. It was just a dream. Back to reality, people!

"Hello?" a voice absurdly familiar shouted. "Where are you?"

Usui? I was sure that that was his voice. Only, why was he there? He wouldn't have cared to even bother looking for me. I was just one of all the girls he had for company.

So that brings us back to the same question. Why was he there?

"Hey! Can you hear me?"

Oh god, it _was_ Usui. He had come all the way here, to the dark side, to save _me_. But _why?_

I swear, if this keeps on happening to me, my brain would blow up even before I'm legal to drink.

"Usui!" I shouted, my voice cracking at the end of my calling. "I'm here!"

The sound of the hooves stopped for a moment, allowing me to hear the hooting of the owls, and Usui shouted in response to my croaking.

"Hey! Where are you? Can you hear me? Shout to me!" he said.

"I'm here!" I felt ridiculous, shouting to him like that. But, unless I wished to have my body never found, what choice did I have? "I'm right here!"

The hooves started pounding on the ground again, and I could feel the my hole vibrating. And because the hole was only about two yards in diameter, I was more scared of it collapsing down on me than actually having no one to find my body.

Yea, I was a paranoid, little brat.

"I can't see you!" he yelled. "Where exactly are you?"

Of course. Of course he couldn't see me. I was inside a hole, five storeys under ground.

"I'm inside a hole!" I screamed back at him, almost yelling my throat out.

"Eh? A hole? Where?"

I mentally slapped myself for being so stupid.

Exhaling audibly, I waved off my irritation and shouted, "See a big tree with branches sticking out like – " I really didn't think that Usui would appreciate my attempt in imagery, but did I really have another choice? " – your hair."

Yes. Usui's hair was like golden icicles sticking out of a head (exaggeration added.)

He was silent for a moment, before replying, "All trees look the same in here."

Oh god, what had I done to deserve this? Why couldn't he just _see_ the hole on the ground?

Giving up trying to describe where the hole was, I tried to think of another way I could tell him where I was. I looked down to the ground, and an idea popped in my mind.

"Hey, Usui!" I shouted while bending down to grab a stone on the ground. "I'm going to throw something up. You ready?"

"Okay."

With the power I still had in me – I was on the verge of blacking out – I threw the stone up, hoping that Usui was facing the right side and that the stone would reach up to the surface of the ground, high enough for him to see.

I watched as the grey stone flew and turned in the air, almost blending in with the darkness of the sky. It, fortunately, flew up to 2 feet above the surface of the ground; I sighed with relief, as that meant I didn't need to throw it up again.

What I did need to do, however, was to pay attention where the stone was going to land.

But, of course, by the time I realized that, it was all too late.

_BONK!_

To say that the stone hurt a lot when it made impact with my forehead would be an understatement to the grossest proportions. I actually felt the stone – especially the sharp side of it – pierce in the thin flesh of my forehead, almost splitting my skull into two.

Okay, maybe not the last part. But it did pierce into my flesh.

I crumbled from the agonizing pain, worrying my bottom lip as warm blood rushed out and dripped down to my right brow.

And the last thing I remembered was hearing the faint sound of hooves, going away from me.

Either that or I was the one slipping away from consciousness.


	15. Chapter 15

**Oh, wow...**

**I'M SO SORRY THAT I HAVEN'T BEEN UPDATING FOR SO LONG! I've been extremely busy - yeah, the same excuse every time - these days and... I... I was just really exhausted.**

**SO, to make it out for all the days I've missed, I'll be uploading 2 chapters today...**

**Yeah, LAME. But really, I can't do anything else.**

**AND, I'm sorry I missed a lot of reviews from the previous chapters. I only had the time to write the chapters, not to reply the reviews one by one. Sorry...**

**Reviews:**

**AznRomance x3: LOL. Your dog was there with you? I can only imagine his/her expression :p**

**RosegirlPrincess: I'm sorry it took me so long for this one chapter... :'(**

**Megica Ring: Thanks! I didn't really put that much effort for the vocabulary of the last chapter, but... meh, maybe I unconsciously placed some in?**

**shawnmisakiusui: THANKSSS~!**

**xtheBLEACHEDalchemistx: LOL. Indeed, my friend. Great minds _do_ think alike XD**

**Anon: I read you review and really found your criticism useful. I will try and improve my stories based on it. Thank you!**

**ChuGaEun: Yeah... I have no idea why, but I tend to always end something with someone losing consciousness. Trying to change that habit, though.**

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"_No. She needs a doctor, and she needs it now._

"_What do you mean I'm overreacting? A lady is injured and you want to just sit there and watch her bleed her life out? What kind of sick people are you?_

"_No, I'm not going to watch my language until she gets the medication she needs._

"_I don't care if she's just a servant. They have rights, too!_

"…_Don't roll your eyes at me like that."_

Becoming aware of the chatters around me, I blinked my eyes open slowly, trying to adjust my eyes to the light in the place.

Or rather, lack thereof.

I was lying on something soft that felt oddly familiar. But what could it have been? There was nothing soft in my house. The closest thing to soft was the blanket I used to protect my body from freezing every night. And that piece of cloth was no longer than a yard long, and since my height was _way_ more than a yard, and the thing I was lying on was holding all of me and not just half, the blanket was out.

And who was talking so loud before? Mom and Suzuna had inconceivably soft voices, so of course they couldn't have been the ones talking. And what was with the whole _'she-is-a-servant'_ thing? We had no servants at home; we couldn't afford them.

What was going on?

Sitting up, I became aware of the pain on my forehead and the dryness of my tongue. I quickly look around to find something to drink, and a drink I found. I reached out to grab the glass beside the thing I was lying on, not caring of what it was, and drank it. It tasted quite odd, but I decided that it was just an effect of having my tongue too dry.

"She's probably still unconscious. Better go now, before she starts waking up," the voice before – unmistakably a guy's voice – said.

Who was that guy? Who was he referring to when he said 'she'? This was so perplexing.

Then I heard a doorknob creak, and light spilled in the room. Quickly, I lied back down, closed my eyes and pretended that I was still unconscious, just like how the guy said.

You know, _if_ that guy was referring to me when he said 'she'.

"Yep, she's still under," he said.

"So," another voice – still a guy's – said, "what seems to be the problem here?"

Um, I thought. Why don't we start with '_where the heck am I?_'and '_who are you guys?'_

"Um, she fell and accidentally hit her head."

I did?

Oh right. I did fell. But I didn't hit my head. No, the rock that I threw hit my head for me.

That was when all the memories resurfaced. I was a servant saved by a prince named Usui. He sexually harassed me. He kissed me. I loved him; I just didn't want to admit it to myself. No, not just yet.

I heard some ruffling sounds coming from my right, followed by fingers touching my forehead, carefully avoiding my wound, which was pounding quite painfully.

"She'll be alright. A day or two to rest and she'll be as good as ever. I'll just clean the wound a little," the second voice said.

"Thank you," the first voice, belonging to no other than Usui, replied after a relieved sigh.

The next minute or two was agonizing on my part. Drops of freezing cold liquid landed on my forehead, and slowly rolled down to my wound…

…and my fake sleeping act was almost ruined with me almost gagging in pain.

My pain, unfortunately, didn't stop just there. Little sand-like solids were sprinkled onto the wound, and a finger rubbed the solids against it. That was taking the phrase 'rubbing salt to the wound' literally.

Let's just say that I would never underestimate that phrase again.

"All done. She will feel pain when she wakes up, but at least the wound is clean. She will need to rest, so please excuse her from any activities for the next days."

"Yes, I will."

Then I heard the door click close, and Usui sighed.

"Like I will give you anything to work on," he murmured.

A second after that, I felt his delicate finger caressing the area near my wound that wasn't covered in the cold liquid or the salt – I assumed that was salt; I couldn't be sure, though.

"Really," he breathed, his breath brushing on my cheek. That was when I realized how close his face must be. "You are just the cutest thing on Earth."

Don't, I thought. Don't you dare blush, lady.

The bed beneath me shifted and I felt something inconceivably soft touching my forehead – nowhere near my wound, though. It stayed there for one, two, and it broke the touch.

Could it be… _Usui's lips?_

Oh, God.

I was in heaven.

"Don't do this to yourself," Usui whispered, his breath now dangerously close to my face. Especially my lips, which, you know, was _so_ where I wanted his face to be.

I don't even know if that was sarcasm or my real wish, but whatever.

His next statement, though, was the one that caused me to stop my whole sleeping act. You know what he said?

He said, his voice as soft as the bed cover I was on (which was really soft, let me assure you), "You're beautiful."

My eyelids shot up fast, before my cheeks could even produce the pinkness of my usual blush.

And you know what I saw?

That's right. Two horrifically huge green orbs looking down at me so close that I could've poked one of them using my nose without fully lifting my head.

But I didn't, because that wasn't how you treat anyone who had just complimented you.

Oh, especially if that person happened to have kissed your wound, which was super sweet, if you ask me.

God, what was _happening_ to me? _Sweet?_ When did I start saying things like _'sweet'?_

"Get. Away. From. Me," I spat, accompanying each word with a punch using my hand to his abdomen, trying to get him away as far as possible.

I mean, I know that – okay, I'll admit it – I had feelings for him and all, but I didn't want him to know that. And what better way to cover that up than hitting the guy in his belly, forcing him to get away from me?

Usui, startled by my consciousness, quickly staggered back and ended up falling to the floor. While he was trying to regain his balance, I quickly sat up, cursing under my breath when I felt a jolting pain from the wound down to my naked toes.

"What," I demanded, "were you _doing?_"

Usui, who was trying to get onto his feet, just stared at the floor – a little sheepishly, I might add.

I smiled. And quickly shook it off my face as soon as I realized it was on.

My heart was still smiling inside, though. And I thought it was going to burst in joy when Usui, from his spot on the floor, stood up and came near to me, asking – what else?

"Are you okay?"

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**It's my summer holiday now, so I'll try to update daily (like how I used to, before Student Council came in my life and completely ruined my schedule).**

**Please review~**


	16. Chapter 16

**Not as long as the one I uploaded seconds ago but it's still a chapter.**

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"Fine," I said, my voice dripping with hostility, despite the fact that my heart was doing a summersault inside my chest because he actually cared to ask how I was doing.

I know, it was _that_ bad.

"Good," he said awkwardly while wiping his hands against his jodhpurs. Typical. "You, um, should rest."

I sighed inwardly. He looked so cute, getting all awkward like that...

"I don't feel like resting. Oh, Usui…" I breathed, smiling pleasantly at him as I did. "Would you care to rest with me, then?"

He looked at me oddly, and touched my forehead with the back of his hand, as if feeling my temperature. "Are you okay?"

"Yes!" I squealed. I took in his startled, worried expression but dismissed it. "Oh, why wouldn't I be? With you here, nothing wouldn't be alright."

I thought I saw his cheeks flush, but it was only there like a flash, and then it was gone. Whoosh, like the wind. Just like that.

"Usui?"

"Yeah. I'm here."

I turned my body a little so that I could see him clearer. "I'm glad you're here."

He nodded slowly. "Umhm, I got that."

I smiled at him dopily, before patting the pillow beside me, signaling him to lie there with me. He got what I was trying to convey and sat on the bed, in front of the curve of my stomach, since I was lying on my shoulder, facing him.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," I murmured, watching as his face flush even harder. "You're my hero."

"No, you'd do just fine," he muttered, looking uncomfortable.

"No!" I said. "I wouldn't be fine! I would _die_."

This time, he leaned down to me, his face only inches from mine. I thought he was going to kiss me, you know? And then we would live happily ever after, in a land made out of cotton candy and lollipops.

But no, he didn't. Instead, he sniffed me. Yeah, I know. _Totally cute!_

"Have you been – " he started but interrupted himself when he saw the glass of liquid I had drank from before he entered the room. "You drank _wine?_"

"No! I'm not nine! I'm sixteen, almost seventeen. Say, what's your age, Usui? Seventeen? Eighteen? Twenty-four?" I asked. It seemed very urgent for me to know his age.

He brought his hand up to his head, his fingers running through his messy blond hair. He looked kind of stressed, if you ask me. But why would he look stressed? That part confused the life out of me, if that was even possible.

"Let me get you some water," Usui said, standing up.

But I quickly gripped his wrist.

"Please," I said, my voice unstable as I felt that hot prickly feeling behind my eyes that suggested that tears were forming, "don't leave me."

God, he was leaving! He hated me! He was _leaving me alone!_

"I'm not leaving; I'm just going to take water for you. It'll be quick, I…" his voice trailed off as the first batch of tears escaped my eyes. "No, please… Don't cry."

"How can I not?" I sobbed. "You're leaving!"

"N-no. I-I'm not leaving. I'm just, um." Usui looked more troubled than ever. "Just… don't cry."

"Don't leave me," I sobbed again. And again.

And again.

Then he took my hand and wrapped it with his own, saying comforting words to try to tranquilize me.

"I love you, Usui," I found myself saying in a manner that was somber and unaware in the same time, if such a thing was possible. "I love you _this_ much." I stretched my hands – or rather, hand, since one of them was in between the blonde's – as far as it could reach.

"Oh…"

"Don't you love me, too?" I asked him after moments of silence. "You do, don't you?"

Usui looked at me queasily, his eyes filled with emotions I couldn't lay my finger on.

Oh no…

"You don't… You hate me, don't you?" I asked, feeling my eyes tearing up again. "I knew it! You hate me! You hate me so much that you wanted to leave me! I knew it!"

"No!" he objected. "No! That's not true. I – "

"You what?" I spat out, sick of all this.

"I… I love you, too…"

There was silence after his last statement, and that was when I realized something.

"Misaki," I said to him.

"What?"

"My name. It's Misaki. Misaki Ayuzawa. Just thought you would want to know," I smiled again at him. "Now answer me. What's your age, Prince Usui?"

He blinked at me, before saying, "I'm seventeen… Misaki."

His voice saying my name seemed so soft and gentle that it actually made my insides tingle. And the fact that he was only one year older than me only added fuel to my fire of wanting him by my side.

"Oh, sweet. You're seventeen!" I squealed in joy as my mind started swiveling like the swirl in a lollipop. "You're… only a year… older… than me…"

Usui sat closer to me, and gently lifted head onto his lap. He took a stray strand of hair and tucked it behind my ear. Caressing my cheek with the back of one palm, he whispered, "I love you, Misaki Ayuzawa."

I closed my eyes, letting my mind drift away to the state of unconsciousness.

"And my hands can't even start to describe how much I do."

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**I've been feeling really light-headed when I wrote this... so yeaaa...**

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	17. Chapter 17

**HI!**

**.**

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**That's it.**

**Reviews:**

**AznRomance x3: LOL I shall make you fangirl much more in this chapter! (...maybe)**

**blackopalz21: LOL I was reading a book where the main character's little brother did that when I wrote that chapter, so yeaaah.**

**usuixmisaki: :D I finished my finals 2 weeks ago. SUMMER VACATION FTW~**

**Magica Ring: Yeah, I'm sorry. It's because I've been taking too much time off of writing fanfics that I wasn't sure if I should go here, or there, or... you know. But I'm trying to fix that.**

**daniel9999: Thanks!**

**xtheBLEACHEDalchemistx: You'll see XD**

**FeelLikeSmiling: It was actually the wine in action... But yeah, love does do that to people, too.**

**kyofan101: It means that Usui loves Misaki very, _very_ much, because the distance between Usui's hands, you know, stretched out and stuff, can't even start to describe how much he loves her.**

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When I woke up, I had probably the worst headache ever known to mankind. My head was pounding and there was a knot of nausea in my stomach. My eyes hurt whenever I moved them, and my vision wasn't so good, either.

Yeah, it wasn't any picnic.

I, while rubbing my eyes to get them to focus, sat up straight. I had to hold my breath for a whole 5 minutes to stop myself from hurling on the bed I was on.

"Ugh, God…" I muttered.

"Finally woke up, huh?"

I whirled to my right, and saw Usui laying there, his head on his hand, looking causally at me.

"How are you feeling, Ayuzawa?" he asked.

Wait.

How the _heck_ did he know my name? My _family name_, no less.

At that point, I wasn't even pissed at him for laying there beside me _on a frigging bed_. When a prince knows your name and you haven't even told him anything about yourself, you don't go around worrying about why he's beside you on a bed.

No, you go around accusing him of stalking you.

"How," I asked, "do you know my name? Are you – are you _stalking_ me?"

He just looked at me for a while, as if what I said wasn't making any sense, before snapping, "Oh, right! You were under the influence of alcohol. Right. Forgive me."

This struck me in the head even harder than when that rock hit me.

_Alcohol?_ I was under the influence of _alcohol?_

You've got to be kidding me.

I let out a humorless, nervous laugh and asked, "Me? Alcohol? No, you're lying."

Usui lifted an eyebrow, saying, "How else can I get your name, then? You told me your name yourself."

No, that didn't make any sense. I didn't remember having anything alcoholic…

But then, again, no one remembers anything when they're drunk.

Shit.

"Say…" I asked. "If I was really drunk, what else did I say?" Nothing embarrassing, I hoped.

Usui looked up, which, in this case, was at the headboard, and thought for a while.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked me after moments of silence.

"Is it _that_ bad?" I asked uneasily. "That, _that_ bad?"

He looked at me, his green eyes reflecting the light from the opened window, and an annoying smirk crept on his face.

"Don't – don't give me that face!" I looked away, hiding my flaming cheeks, because, to tell you the truth, he looked uh-maze-zing with that smirk on.

But I wasn't going to let him know that.

"Well," he said, sitting up, "if you want to know, you asked me if I would like to rest with you."

I stared stiffly at the corner of the bed, my eyes as big as oranges. My mind was swiveling like insane.

What was he talking about? I would never – _never, ever_ – want him to _rest with me_…

Okay, maybe I would. But not that much as to actually _ask_ him to do so.

"And you said that you were glad that I was there with you, and that you wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't."

He was lying, wasn't he? Why would I be glad to have a sexual harasser by my side? That defies all logic and sense!

Except… except that it didn't. No, not really. I was actually kind of glad that he was there with me right then, telling me all those humiliating things I said when I was drunk.

You know… if what he was saying is true.

"You stopped me from taking water for you, thinking that I was leaving you because I hated you. You even cried while doing so."

I would _never_ cry! Especially not for something as ridiculous as having the king of all perverts hating me. I mean, a girl's got to have her principle…

I hope.

But the list wasn't over. Not quite yet. Usui still had one more thing to be the little red cherry on top of my mint-flavored cupcake of embarrassing sayings to him.

Get ready for it…

"Then you said that you love me. You love me _thiss – _" he stretched out his hands to both sides as far as he could reach " – much."

Oh, God…

Why? Why, alcohol? Why me?

"And you asked me if I loved you, too," he added.

My ears perked up.

Did he love me, too? Now _that_ is something interesting.

I hesitated at first, because I was asking myself if I even wanted to know the answer. But my curiosity got the better of me and I proceeded in asking him.

"What did you say?"

I turned to look at him, but he beat me into it. He was already looking at me, a soft smile on his lips.

"I – um – if… um – y-you," I stuttered.

My string of incoherent words was interrupted when Usui suddenly reached out and cupped my face with one hand.

"Ayuzawa," he breathed, his smile still as charming as ever.

And he closed the gap between us.

I've got to say, right then, I felt as if I was in heaven. One where you have hot blondes cupping your cheek and kissing you, that is.

Usui's lips were soft and gentle on mine. He wasn't crushing my lungs, like how the guards did when they… you know, _stripped me_.

When the need of air resurfaced, we pulled apart. I stared down at the bed sheets while Usui…

Well, he was just sitting there, his hand still cupping my cheek, looking at me with his emerald orbs.

"What do you think, Ayuzawa?" he asked with a tone so gentle that it sounded like a sweet lullaby. "What do you think I said?"

My cheeks blushed at his question. I didn't want to answer it; it would only make me sound very… _naïve?_ I don't know, but I just didn't want to answer it.

And thankfully, he seemed to understand my silence.

"Rest, Ayuzawa," he said while getting off the bed.

My eyes followed him as he slid into his suit, taking his still-smiling face, his well-sculpted figure.

I didn't want him to go, but what was I going to say? That I didn't want him to leave so that he could _rest with me?_

Yeah, one would need to pay me 100 horses for me to do just that, maybe even more.

Usui, noticing that I was looking at him, smiled at me and said, "What, do you want me to stay here with you while you rest?"

My cheeks burned and I shouted, "Hell no! You get out of here, pervert! Shoo! Get out!"

God, why must I have such an ego?

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	18. Chapter 18

**I am SO SORRY! I've been overseas for the past couple days, and I didn't bring my laptop there, so yeaah...**

**God, this story is getting SO hard to write, and my writing skills are worsening... Oh no...**

**Reviews:**

**kyofan101: Haha, I think all of us do XD**

**blackopalz21: I'm sorry, I don't really understand what 'tsun' and 'dere' means. I only know them together... *fangirl fail***

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**ChuGaEun: LOL Yeah, big ego.**

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**Magica Ring: Thanks you! USUI FTW~**

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**xtheBLEACHEDalchemistx: LOL but Misaki's ego is what makes her romance with Usui fun, don't you think?**

**FantasyForever310: Kissy kissy scenes~**

**celestial spirit: Thank you!**

**Guest: Here you go!**

**Again, I'm SO VERY SORRY for not updating for so long...**

* * *

"A hundred and thirty-four sheep…"

Forcing my eyes close for the nth time, I tried to go to sleep again…

"A hundred and thirty-five sheep…"

...

"Argh, I give up…" I growled as I jerked open my eyes, rolling out of the comforter I was tucked under by a certain blond pervert before he went out.

"Now, now… I'm afraid you'll catch a cold," he'd said with exaggerated care that it made my blood boil when I complained for having him tuck me in.

I got up to my feet, stuck them in a pair of leather shoes Usui had placed beside the bed, and stretched my hands. I'd been on the bed, trying to fall asleep, for so long that my bones felt like they hadn't been used in the past 20 years.

Yawn. Blink. Blink.

I shook myself out of the trance and walked gingerly towards the closed double door. I didn't really know where I was going, but anywhere seemed a lot more interesting than the Usui's room, really.

I slowly creaked open the door and stuck my head out to see if there were any people in the large hallway.

No one. Perfect.

I went out and, with my heart beating in my throat, started walking towards the opposite direction of the one that Usui and I took when we went out to ride horses to the woods. It was probably safer for me to not go towards the exit of the castle, or else people would start accusing me of escaping.

And I don't even want to think about what would happen after that.

I looked around the hall I was in, taking in the paintings of cherubs on the ceiling and the marble pillars that were placed well-distanced from each other. There were pictures of people, mostly adults in their thirties wearing really frilly and fancy attires, hung on both walls in either of my sides.

I didn't know if it was the painter's fault or not, but all the people in the pictures… they all looked extremely arrogant and cold. Everything in the picture – their poses, the way their heads were tilted up in a stubborn way, their expressions – seemed to give out their cold and self-centered personalities, but their eyes were the one that gave everything away.

That is, until I came across a picture of a woman that really stood out from the rest.

The lady, at most twenty-five years old, was pale and thin. She had a look of unadulterated love, unlike the other pictures where all the people were smiling like evil maniacs. But what really stood out most her slightly swelled up abdomen.

She was pregnant when they painted her.

And it was when I looked back up at her face that I noticed how familiar her eyes were. I'd seen them somewhere…

Only… where?

"Just _what_ exactly are you doing here?"

Dead.

I whirled around, my heart beating frantically in my ears, my hands clamped against my mouth, to find none other than…

"Usui!" I cried. "God, you shocked my there…"

Usui, in his cream-colored suit, asked me again, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in the room, resting."

"I, um…" I wondered how I was supposed to get out of this one as I continued panting. "I… I was bored."

God, couldn't you get a better reason, Misaki?

"And so you decided to go out of the room, completely alone and not knowing where to go," he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Yeah, that's _so_ wise of you."

I waved my hands in front of him. "Well, if you had more things in your room that I could use to entertain myself, I might not have to go out and seek for entertainment!" I argued, stabbing a finger into his chest over and over again.

It was when I looked up to his face to stab my finger there, too, that I found out where I had seen the lady's eyes before.

She had striking emerald-green eyes, just like Usui. A shade of green so intense, it was quite impossible for anyone to not stare at them.

And – as embarrassing as it is to admit – that was what I did.

I stared at his eyes.

One of his brows slowly crept up in an uncomfortable manner, and he waved a hand in front of my face, saying, "Um, Ayuzawa? I don't mind if you find my face… _entertaining_, but…"

I snapped out of my daydream and rolled my eyes at him.

"Who said that your face is entertaining to see? I never said that," I retorted, trying to hide that his face was actually quite entertaining to see. But I wasn't staring at him because of that.

"Then why were you staring at it, then?" he asked, the corner of his mouth perking up.

I felt my cheeks burn.

"I – I wasn't staring at your face, you – you _idiot!_" I stammered. And knowing that he would ask what I was staring at if it wasn't his face, I added, "I was staring at your eyes!"

Both of his brows shot up this time.

"Oh, so you find my _eyes_ entertaining? Well, I'm flattered," he said in a manner that made me want to punch his gut so bad. "I should say, no one has ever – "

"I DIDN'T SAY THAT YOUR EYES ARE ENTERTAINING, YOU SELF-PRAISING, PERVERTED PIG!" I shouted at him.

It was silent as my voice echoed through the, fortunately, empty hall – except for Usui and me, that is.

"…Okay," Usui said after a whole 10 seconds of hearing as my voice trailed away. "So you were staring at my eyes for no reason. Okay, I get it."

The face-palm that I did then was probably the loudest one ever done in history.

"No…" I grumbled. "Your eyes are similar to the one she – " I pointed at the painting of the lady – "has. Mind to explain who she is?"

Usui looked at the picture, and his expression turned changed into a more somber one. All the playfulness left his tone when he replied, "She… was a great woman."

Wait. Did he just use 'was' in his speech? As in, past tense?

"Was? Why are you referring to her in past tense?" I asked bluntly, like one of those impolite girls in school who always asked things so frankly and without a second thought that it made everyone uncomfortable.

Oh God, why hadn't I thought about what I was about to ask? Was I really turning into one of those girls I despised?

But when I realized that it was a rather rude question to ask, it was too late. The words had left my mouth and there was no way I could take them in. I wished I could, but I couldn't.

Usui looked at me, his eyes shimmering with… _tears?_

Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

"She passed away," he said, a sad smile forming on his face. "She passed away the moment she gave birth to me."

My eyes widened to the size of oranges.

I didn't know what to expect, really. I mean, I should've known, right? After all, she had blond hair, the same shade as Usui's hair. And their prominent green eyes were so obvious…

But to actually find out that the pregnant lady in the picture was Usui's mother, and that she was no longer breathing in the world, was too much for me.

"I… I'm so sorry," I said, my eyes tearing up. I looked down at the floor to hide them.

Why the _heck_ were you crying? You weren't supposed to be the one crying! _He_ was the one supposed to be crying. She was _his_ dead mother, not yours!

"I really am," I continued, now half sobbing. "I… I shouldn't have asked…"

I looked up at the blond, my vision blurry thanks to the tears that were piling up, and found him already looking down at me, worry evident in his eyes.

"No… It's alright," he said, cupping my cheeks with his soft hands. "Shhh… It's okay…"

"I shouldn't have brought up the topic," I cried as a streak of hot tears trickled down my cheek and onto Usui's hand. "I'm sorry…"

Usui chuckled softly and wiped the tears away using his thumb. "You're so soft…"

My heart skipped a beat at his remark.

What did he mean when he said that? Did he mean it literally, like, my skin was soft and chubby? Or did he mean it in another way? As in, I was weak and too kind that I was easy to take advantage of?

Either way, I didn't mind. His voice was so gentle that I was sure that he was complimenting me…

Or teasing me…

Whatever.

Usui circled one arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I ended up pressed against his chest – not a position I was uncomfortable with, quite the opposite, actually – with the warm fabric soaking in the tears that Usui hadn't already wiped away. He inhaled deeply after resting his chin on my head.

"You're so cute when you aren't trying to hide your feelings away," he breathed while giving my shoulder a slight squeeze. "Though, you're cute when doing that, too," he added with a chuckle.

I just closed my eyes and imagined that there was nothing in the hall – no pictures in gold frames, no pregnant lady with green eyes, no paintings of cherubs, no gigantic pillars – just us two.

"Shut up," I muttered against his hard chest, even though I really didn't want him to. Stop talking, I mean.

He chuckled some more and started swaying me. "Shh… Calm down…" he was saying.

After a while, he, much to my dismay, pulled away, saying that he was afraid that someone would catch us in that position and start questioning us. That was a really lame thing, if you asked me, since who would question a prince, right?

"Besides," he added after that while walking back to his room, "you need to rest."

And when I opened my mouth to protest, he placed a finger on my lips in that knee-melting way, looked down with warm, caring eyes and whispered, "Ayuzawa. Rest."

My insides felt warm and fuzzy. I didn't know why, but when he spoke in that really caring tone, the world seemed so much brighter and my wound stopped pounding for a moment. He had to carry me – bridal style, which I didn't really mind – in order to get me back to his room, because my legs had failed to do so.

"And this time," he said once we were in his room, "I'm going to stay here, to ensure that you're not going to go out and wander off on your own again."

Gently, he laid me down on the bed and climbed on beside me. I shifted to my side, because, no matter how lovely it would be to have a guy you like watching as you sleep, I knew for a fact that if I faced Usui, I wouldn't be getting any rest at all. Not because I hate his guts or anything like that. No, it's because I knew that I would be daydreaming.

But I soon realized that I still wouldn't be getting any rest, even with my back facing him, because just a second after I'd settled with my position, I felt Usui's arms snaking its way from my hips, all the way to my abdomen, where his fingers interwove, securing my body in place.

"Usui," I started. "I – "

"Shh…" he whispered, and I could feel his breath on my nape, which sent shivers – the nice ones – down my spine. "I'm sure you'll rest just fine."

How could he have known what I was planning to say?

Oh, right. He knew – knows – everything.

I let out an imperceptible chuckle – at least, I hoped it was imperceptible – and slowly closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth that his body was emitting.

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**Please review?**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hullo, readers, dear. Here's another chapter~**

**Um, I'll be uploading a one-shot after this, so please check that one too!**

**Reviews:**

**wolfbound321: Aww, thanks!**

**AznRomance x3: Thank you~! Fangirling ftw~ So spill, who's this guy Brian you're talking about? :3 LOL jkjk**

**Guest (Um, the one who reviewed after AznRomance x3): Thank you! I'm glad to hear that!**

**Guest (The one after the previous guest): Thank youuuuuu~~**

**Guest (Chu Ga Eun): Yeah, that position XD**

**xtheBLEACHEDalchemistx: Hmm, pervyyy. LOL jkjk. I'll do some more fan service next time. Right now, I'm focusing more on the actual plot of the story.**

**FeelLikeSmiling: Yeah, there's always room to improve in all my writing. And for the secret plot for later...**

**Guest (Magica Ring): I'm actually aiming for 40 chapters, but seeing how this plot is turning... I doubt I can reach so much...**

**blackopalz21: No, I didn't mean the ninth. I meant it as in _n_th, you know, like 1st, 2nd, etc. Like in math, you substitute an unknown number in a sequence with the letter _n_. I guess I should've made the _n_ italic, huh? And yeah, I meant 'me'. Careless me. Whoopsie. XD**

**Guest (usuixmisaki): Not quite good. I actually prefer school than holidays... Meh, I'm weird. And thank you!**

**RosegirlPrincess: Nah, it's okay :) And I can't really guarantee that I'll update more, especially with the start of another school year and all. You know, Student Council and all.**

**OH GOODNESS. WHAT DID THEY DO WITH THE REVIEW BUTTON? I was going around the site after I uploaded the last chapter and was really confused when I tried reviewing to other stories. Now you can't even _name_ an anonymous review? How annoying can that be? (Sometimes I'm just really lazy to sign in whenever I want to review, so yeah. Lazy lazy me~)**

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"_Misaki!" Mom called out to me with her gentle voice, her hands busy cutting the rabbit that I caught in the afternoon. "Come. Help me with tonight's dinner."_

_Just when I was about to approach her as she asked me to, the ground swayed. Mom, with the animal still in her hands, smiled at me, her body seeming to disappear to thin air slowly._

"_Mom!" I cried out. I tried running to her side, holding her still, but my body wouldn't move. "Mom!"_

_And with a flash of blinding light, the ground stopped swaying, and I was in a different place – a river bank._

"_Sister!" my younger sister, Suzuna, called out to me, waving her cadaverous hand at me. "Come, quick! You should see the fish eating another fish! It's biting its head off!"_

_This was not weird. Seeing my sister getting excited over such absurdly disgusting thing, I mean. She was always like that._

"_Where?" I was just about to say when, suddenly, the ground shook again, and her figure disappeared with our surroundings._

"_Suzuna!" I shouted._

"Mom! Suzuna!"

I sprang up into a sitting position, my heart pounding like insane against my ribs.

"Ayuzawa, are you alright?" asked Usui, who was standing beside me on the floor. "Here, have a drink."

He handed me a glass of water.

"Thanks," I looked up at him, taking in his ruffled hair and tired eyes, before gulping down the contents of the glass.

"Whoa," Usui said. "Go easy on that, tiger."

I ignored his statement and continued drinking, in hope that my heart would _stop trying to crack my ribs_.

I know, I know. Drinking doesn't necessarily slow down your heart and stuff. It just feels like drinking water slows my heartbeat down, okay? Jeez, don't judge so much.

"So," Usui said once I had finished drinking the whole glass of water. "Mind explaining what the whole ruckus was about?"

"What ruckus?" I asked while setting down the empty glass on the bed-side table. "We were sleeping, no?"

The blond ran his fingers through his hair, which was reflecting a little of the light that came in through the opened window. "Well, we were, actually," he said. "That is, before you became really restless and started shouting and… using physical violence on innocent bystanders."

I had completely forgotten about the dream I had a few minutes ago, because that's what you tend to do when there is a really cute guy beside you, offering you a glass of water. You tend to forget stuff.

And when he saw that I was staring at him, not knowing what he was talking about, he smiled down at me – _ba dumph, ba dumph, ba dumph, ba dumph _– and added sweetly, "Did you have a bad dream or something, Ayuzawa?"

I blinked a few times at the floor, trying to remember whether or not I did have a bad dream – or a dream at all – and remembered that, in fact, I did.

Oh God, I was _sleep-talking?_

"Y-yes…" I replied as my cheeks heated up a little. "Yeah, I did…"

I used the brief moment of silence to figure out what exactly happened in the dream.

I was together with Mom in the kitchen, yes. Then the world swayed like insane, and all the colors and shapes swirled together, like one giant lollipop. And I was suddenly transported to a river bank with Suzuna, watching as a fish tried to bite off another fish's head. The same swirling thing happened again and I woke up while I shouted both of their names – except for Mom, though. Mom is just what I call her, it's not her name. _Duh!_

Okay… that made sense…

…I _guess?_

"You must really miss your family, huh?" Usui's voice broke through my wall of thoughts.

Did I miss my family?

I asked this question in my head again.

_Did I miss my family?_

Oh God… It'd been so long since I last met them. They didn't even know where I was… They must be worried sick, and here I was, happily kissing a prince without any thought of them whatsoever.

What kind of daughter am I?

And that was when the tears started appearing.

I didn't even bother to send them a letter to tell them that I was okay. Heck, I didn't even bother to _think_ about them when I was here.

And who was putting food on the table? Suzuna couldn't possibly be hunting; she was fragile and… well, not strong enough to do the work.

And Mom?

You give her a bow; she wouldn't know what to do with it. She's probably going to break the thing into two and use them as chopsticks.

What have I done?

As the first streak of tears rolled down, Usui quickly sat down beside me and embraced me, patting me on the back gently like a baby after her meal.

But really, I didn't mind being treated like a baby. I needed the break from being a teenager.

"Shh," Usui whispered. "I know you must miss them so much…"

"They must be worried sick!" I sobbed against his sturdy chest. "And I'm here… I'm here _sleeping_ like a pig, not even _t-thinking_ about them! I'm the _worst daughter and sister anyone can have!_"

He drew soothing circles on my back, sometimes getting his finger tangled with the lace behind my dress, while I continued to sob against his shoulder.

"What should I do, Usui?" I mumbled. "What should I do now? I need to go back. I need to go home and help them."

His body stiffened as I said this.

But I was too worried about my family that I didn't realize this at first.

"What should I do? I miss them very much, Usui…" I continued sobbing.

That was when Usui sighed softly and held me at arm's length. I looked up at him, wondering why he had broken the embrace, and saw that he was smiling sadly at me.

"Usui?" I croaked – as in, I made that kind of sound, not as in I died.

His hand reached up to cup my hands and wiped away the tears away from my face.

"You can go home," he whispered with a voice so soft and unstable that it was almost imperceptible.

My eyes widened at this.

I… _could go home?_

"W-what?" I asked while leaning closer to the blond a little.

Usui cleared his throat, before repeating himself, a little louder this time, "You may go home. The first thing tomorrow morning."

I gasped in happiness. I could go home. _I could go home!_

"A-are you sure?" I asked, scooting closer to him. "Are you 100%, positively sure?"

He breathed, "Yes. 100%, positively sure."

"Oh, Usui!" I cried out in joy and quickly launched at him and wrapped my hands tightly around him. "Do you know how great this is?"

"Yeah, it is great, isn't it?" he said, recovering from the shock of being launched at by me – I was overjoyed, deal with it.

But somehow… his voice didn't seem happy. In fact, if I wasn't mistaken, it sounded…

Rather sad.

Noticing this, I pulled back a little – just enough for me to see his face – and muttered, "Usui?"

"Yes?" Usui looked at me with his warm green eyes…

…which were glossed with a thin layer of unshed tears.

"Why do you – " I gasped when I noticed the tears – "are those – Usui, why… why do look so sad?"

Usui looked at me, his eyes intensely boring into mine, before replying, "What are you talking about? I'm not sad, Ayuzawa."

This, I could sense clearly, was nothing but a lie.

"You're lying," I muttered as I pulled back even more. "Now, tell me why you're so sad."

Now that there was enough space between us to stretch out our hands, Usui reached up and cupped my cheek. He sighed.

"It's because," he said, "I won't be seeing you anymore if you're home."

Silence filled the room as his words sank in.

_I won't be seeing you anymore if you're home._

Why hadn't I thought of that?

Something inside me said that it was because I was afraid. I was afraid that if I had thought about it, I would've changed my mind about going home.

And, unfortunately, I do believe that it was right, whatever inside me that said it.

"I mean, I know it's selfish of me to think that way…" Usui continued after some time. "But I can't help it. I… I've got it bad…"

And instead of kissing me after that, like how I had suspected – God, what is _wrong_ with me – he just dropped his hand and exited the room, leaving me on the bed, dazed and confused.

What should I do? Go home or stay?

I muttered a cuss word and threw myself on the bed with a big bounce.

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**Please review, and check out my one-shot! (It'll be up in a few)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hi~! Um, I'm breaking my curfew right now, so... bye~**

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For what seemed like eons, I stayed lying on the bed, asking myself one particular question repeatedly in my head.

_Family…_

…_or Usui?_

My heart was falling apart; I had to make an impossible choice: to stay with the person who I really loved, or go back to my family and ensure they had food on the table every day.

Now, I know what you may be thinking – or half of you people, anyway: _'Go home! If Usui is really your destined lover_ (God… That sounds so cheesy) _you guys will meet again, some day.'_

But here's the problem: That messed up rule applies only to fairytales.

And sadly, my life was no fairytale. I didn't have any fairy godmothers, nor did I have magical pumpkins that would turn to milk-white carriages that would bring me to a ball dance to meet my one true love.

No. All I had with me was a lousy lace-up dress, a pair of moccasins and a throbbing wound on my forehead.

Just when I thought I was going to lose my sanity, something inside me suddenly snapped.

'_Go home,'_ it seemed to say. _'You'll deal with your feelings later. Family first, remember?'_

That, I figured, would be my sister/daughter-sense talking to me, apparently pissed off with all the drama I was going through. It was the thing that I'd always listened to whenever I needed to make a decision, no matter how important or not the choice was. It was the voice that makes the choice between a yes and a no.

I considered the choice in my head again.

The voice _did_ make sense… Family always comes first in everything, no? And besides, they needed me more than Usui did.

But if that was true… then why was I so reluctant to leave his side?

I blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill and rolled onto my side.

Then the doorknob turned and someone stepped in the room, bringing with him a really delicious scent of –

"Are those _fresh bread?_" I rolled around and sat up, deeply inhaling the sweet aroma, forgetting all the melancholy in my life.

"Uh, yes," Usui replied, lifting the silver tray on his hand. "I thought you'd be hungry, so I brought you some."

And just at that remark, my stomach, as if listening to our chat, grumbled loud enough for the whole castle to hear.

A moment of silence filled the room.

Then the blond broke into uproarious laughter.

"S-shut up, will you?" I retorted, my cheeks flaming.

Usui apologized – though his apology didn't sound really convincing, since he was still laughing when he said it – and sat on the bed in front of me, placing the tray of warm, fresh-from-the-oven delicacies between us. He handed one to me, and I quickly took a bite.

To say that the bread tasted amazing would be the understatement of the century.

"Oh, God… This is _the best_ food in the whole wide world," I breathed, brushing my lips against the rough texture of the bread. "Where did you get this?"

Usui looked at me strangely for a moment, before saying, "The kitchen."

Right. I was in a castle now, not in my village. Whoopsie.

"Ah – um – I – sorry. I'm just not used to – "

I was interrupted when Usui chuckled and said, "No, no. It's okay. God, you are just the cutest thing, aren't you?"

My heart did a somersault inside my chest and my cheeks burned even more. I lowered down my head and continued biting chunks off the whole-grain bread.

We stayed in complete and utter silence as I proceeded in finishing my bread and Usui just kept staring at me. The atmosphere became so heavy, sweat started beading on my forehead.

Fortunately, though, Usui broke the silence before the atmosphere could get any worse.

Unfortunately, the words that came out of his mouth weren't really the words that I wanted to hear right then.

"So, um, I got you a horse carriage to bring you back to, um, your village," he said.

My heart sank.

"It's nothing fancy," he continued, "but – "

But before he could continue and sink my heart even deeper, I, feeling the hot, prickly feeling behind my eyes, murmured, "Stop, please."

Then the first tear fell.

A light gasp escaped Usui's mouth. He reached out to cup my cheek, but I scooted away. "Ayuzawa, you're – "

"Yes!" I sobbed. "I'm crying! I – I _hate_ you!"

Yeah, yeah, I know. I was being rather impossible. But seriously, what was _wrong _with him? Couldn't he _see_ that I didn't want to leave his side just as much as he didn't want me to leave? Why had he gotten me a freaking _horse carriage_ to bring me home?

I hugged my legs against my chest and cried against my knees, purposely letting my hair block my view of him.

"You came and _saved _me from my execution, from those people who thought of me as a mere entertainment, brought me here as your servant – yet you didn't give me anything to do – and treat me as if I was someone... _special_. And now... when I _do_ feel like someone special, you got me a horse carriage to send me home!" I cried. "What are you thinking, Usui? You can't just do things like this as your heart's desire! You can't... You can't just play with my emotions like this..."

I let my voice trail off, not wanting to say anything else. Because there _wasn't _any more things to say; I'd spilled everything out.

After moments of silence, I decided that Usui was pissed off with how childish I was acting, which was exactly how he was acting, too, with the silent treatment and everything.

"Sorry," I apologized, though I didn't think I was supposed to be the one apologizing, and stood up, ready to storm out of the room and go hide somewhere in the castle where he would never find me.

But even before I could get my feet on the ground, my hand was pulled and, before I knew what was happening, my back was on the bed, my hands – both of them now – pinned down painfully above my head by a force so strong, my struggling did no use to get my hands out of the iron grip.

Usui hovered above me, his lips crashing against mine quite painfully.

This shocked a great deal out of me.

He was never a rough guy – as far as I knew, anyway – and never one to force-kiss anyone – except for that one time when I just learned that I was his servant, yeah, but he admitted that it was just an attempt to tease me, and nothing more. But this was no teasing; I knew that for sure.

"_Mpmph!_" I muffled angrily as his lips continued moving on mine.

"Do you have any idea," he breathed in between kisses, his voice sounding odd, "how _hard_ it is to restrain myself around you?"

I could've sworn I felt my cheeks blush.

"I love you, Ayuzawa. I really do," he continued. "And I never meant to play with your feelings or emotions. But it's best that you go home."

That was when I realized why his voice sounded so weird. It was filled with hurt.

"We can't keep doing this." His hands – or one of them, anyway – was running through my hair. "Sooner or later, people will notice. I'm sorry for not sending you back home sooner, but I…" his voice trailed off. "I just didn't know what to do.

It was really amazing, you know. How he'd managed to say all those things while still kissing me passionately. I mean, where did he get all the air that he needed?

Aliens. Aliens, aliens everywhere.

"U – sui," I managed to mutter. "I – "

But again, I was cut short when he said, "Shh. Just let me enjoy this, would you, please?"

And I truly wanted him to. Enjoy kissing me, I mean. _I _surely enjoyed him kissing me.

But it was getting rather uncomfortable for me, too, you know? Especially with his hand running through my strands of hair, before proceeding down to caress my cheeks.

My heart was hammering inside my chest the whole time; my breaths had become short and ragged. My chest felt like it was going to explode any second.

And I completely stopped breathing when his hand snaked down to my neck, my traps, all the way to my back, between my shoulder blades…

…and started unlacing my dress.

A new force washed over me. My heart started beating even harder, this time for a whole new reason. Images flashed in my mind, and for a moment, I wasn't on the bed anymore.

I was inside the cursed white room, crying hard on the floor.

And above me, two guards were pinning me down, using their knives to cut my clothes into shreds, often piercing into my flesh and letting a flow of blood escape my body.

"No!" I cried and sprang away from the guards; my hands frantically reaching for any apparel still on my body.

I breathed in sharply, and I was back in Usui's room, panting in the corner of his bed, my hands holding on to my dress, which would drop if I was to let go of it.

"No… Please… Don't…" I muttered absently while my eyes were locked on my ruffled dress.

I knew that Usui was there with me, that the part with the guards was just a bad memory resurfacing. But somehow, I was still scared.

Usui, who was sitting up in front of me, said, "I – I'm sorry. I… I don't know what came into me…"

Looking at me, he reached out – perhaps to try to tranquilize me, I don't know – to grab my hand.

But this proved to be the wrong move to make.

I wasn't aware of what I did. My hands just shot up, like it had a mind of its own, and I cringed shakily, almost losing my balance and fall flat on my face.

"No!" I shouted in fear.

"I'm _sorry_, Ayuzawa," he cried, sadness seeping into his words. "I…"

His voice trailed off and silence filled the room as I continued trembling in fear.

_He's not going to hurt you_, I tried to convince myself. Or rather, the mind that was taking charge of my body at that time.

It took quite a lot of time and silence to get myself to look at Usui without cringing, and by then, Usui was already back to his usual state – calm and composed, as oppose to that state that he'd been before.

"I'm sorry," he said, seeing that I was slowly raising my gaze towards him, even though I was still hugging my legs against my chest.

"Y-yeah," I started shakily, "I – I'm sorry, too. I w-was… I'm just… I'm still frightened with what h-happened… when I f-first arrived h-here…"

The sadness returned to his eyes when he said, "I apologize for what they did. I've already – "

I blocked out his words, wanting to listen to the memory more. I had more important stuff to worry about, like the fact that _I was going to be sent back home tomorrow_.

Yeah, I didn't really need to hear what Usui had done to those filthy guards. I've got bigger problems of my own.

Seeing that I was staring at my toes, instead of listening to him, Usui stopped talking about whatever he was talking back then, and said, "Ayuzawa?"

"We could do it, you know," I whispered, my eyes staring at my toes blankly.

"What?"

I looked up at him through my bangs. "Escape to the woods. Live our own lives."

Both of Usui's brows perked up. "Escape to the woods to live our own lives… Are you suggesting to we _elope_, Ayuzawa?" he asked – a bit incredulously, I might add.

I blushed.

Yes, that was exactly what I was suggesting we did. To elope. But to actually hear him _say_ the word… Well, who wouldn't have blushed?

I bowed my head even lower to hide my flaming cheeks – though, from the way Usui was trying to stifle down a laugh, I think my reaction to his question had been seen.

"What about your family, then? Isn't this hustle all about going back to your family?" he wanted to know.

I shifted, my hands holding the sleeve of my falling dress, and muttered, "W-well, I can visit them daily, give them game. T-they'll understand."

Usui couldn't help but chuckle at this. My cheeks became a brighter shade of red.

Then he embraced me.

There was one second where my body was going to sprang away, but I used all my willpower to stay. After all, this might be the last time I could be in his embrace, in his room, on his bed.

"You are one cute girl, Ayuzawa," he whispered to my ear. "Sadly, though, I don't think us eloping would be a wise thing to do."

This was understandable, I guess. A prince couldn't elope without getting noticed, unlike me.

"I promise that we will meet again," he continued. "Maybe not for the next few weeks or months, but we will. You have my word on it."

And I really wanted to believe him. That we would meet again, I mean. But how could I give myself something as dangerous as…

Well, hope?

I might as well poison myself with those toxic berries I would always find in the woods and die a slow, horrible death.

"But for now, I think it will be best for us both that you go home."

My heart was pulverized into a pile of dust.

He pulled away and, with another look of me, went out.

Well, at least that was what he was going to do, anyway.

Though, before he could even step on the floor, I – quite literally – threw myself at him. I ended up pinning Usui onto the headboard, his back colliding against the carved wood with a loud thud, with my hands hugging his neck.

Yeah, it was _my_ turn to attack him by surprise.

My body – which was in between his legs, my knees almost on his thighs – shook as my tears fell.

"Promise me you'll visit sometime," I cried, my voice sounding too shrill even to my own ears.

I felt his strong arms as they circled around me, before resting on my exposed back. Usui gently tugged at my shoulder, signaling me relax, and slowly set me lying down on my shoulder facing him, my head on the pillow beside him.

He lifted my body up a little, so that he could fix the position of his legs, and placed my body comfortably on them.

I looked at him through my tear-covered eyes, and my insides melted when I saw the soft smile on his face. It was truly a magnificent view.

"Goodnight, Ayuzawa," Usui breathed while tucking strands of stray hair behind my ear, the gorgeous smile still plastered on his face.

He pulled up my dress, which was falling perilously low, a little, just enough to keep it in place while I was lying down, before I curled my hands against my chest and closed my eyes, not knowing that this was the last time I was going to see him.

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**Please review~!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Oh God... I'M SO TERRIBLY SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING ALL THIS TIME! It's just... I've been addicted to something lately (NO, IT'S NOT DRUGS).**

**First, I am completely sucked in with the songs Servant of Evil and Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder (Yes, both by Len and Rin from Vocaloid). I don't know why, I just keep on putting those two songs on repeat. It's just... asdfghkl;**

**Second, I am currently watching _and_ reading Shugo Chara (so that's, like, 130 episodes of anime and 50 chapters of manga - not including encore). I don't know why (God, I say that a lot, don't I?) but I'm just addicted to this series. Also, I just finished reading Faster Than A Kiss (SO GOOD. You should read it sometime!) and I'm also still following with Kaichou wa Maid-Sama. So yeah... Busy otaku, that's me.**

**Third, I am trying to finish up my summer reading goal (consisting of 20 books by several great authors that I've researched about before my holiday) before school starts (that would be on Tuesday, 17 July 2012). And yeah... I'm on my 18th book now, so wish me luck~**

**Last but not least, I'm trying to re-stuff (please tell me that that's a real word) my brain with school stuff (you know, studies and Student Council matters) so that I wouldn't be lost on my first day of school.**

**AH, one more thing. I've been having trouble concentrating (thanks to a really small-but-big-for-me-because-I-am-such-a-clutz-slash-drama-queen-slash-idiot-god-this-is-one-long-word problem that I'm currently facing), so that makes almost all of the things I need to do really horribly hard for me.**

**God, it feels SO GOOD to talk these things out.**

**Um, yeah. So if you're still reading this, I'm sorry for keeping you so long.**

**Reviews:**

**blackopalz21: Haha... I feel that I'm going to let away some spoilers here... So I'll just shut up... Thanks for, um, being my "faithful follower on FF".**

**usuixmisaki: LOL I feel like making people fangirl and cry is my ultimate mission on FF now... LOL jk**

**Magica Ring: Um, no, that chapter isn't the last one.**

**AznRomance x3: Well, my curfew is at 10, but I stay up late in my room (secretly, LOL) to finish up some stuff like homework or a book in bed with a small torch.**

**xtheBLEACHEDalchemistx: Yeah, indeed, it was.**

**FeelLikeSmiling: Nah, even I doubt my plot sometimes... Sigh...**

**ChuGaEun: Haha, yeah. But without these, there wouldn't be any cheesy reunions that we (or me, at least) fangirls love so much. LOL.**

**Heidilynn08: Yeah, but I'm not updating as often as I did once, though... Sorry... I'll be watching you back *grinslikeamaniacback***

**C: Um, no. That wasn't it.**

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_Thud. Thud._

"The carriage is ready."

The continuous knock on the door was what made me open my eyes from what was probably the best sleep that I had since... ever. Annoyed, but seeing that there was no other choice, I climbed off the bed and made my way towards the door.

The room, I couldn't help but notice on my way to the door, was brilliantly bright. The red velvet curtains were parted, both neatly tied in a knot on both sides of the massive window; it must've been well past noon now. I wondered if Usui was the one who opened the curtains…

Wait. Where _was _he, anyway?

But knocks sounded from the door again – louder and with more power this time – so I didn't have time to find the prince. I fixed my hair a little – _not_ because I was self-conscious, but because I wanted to show some respect – and opened the door.

Three guards stood by the door, grim expressions sewed on their faces. Somehow, they weren't shocked that I was the one opening the door, and not Usui.

"The carriage is ready," one of the repeated for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Y-yeah, I know," I said, suddenly aware that my dress was already laced up on the back.

Gee, I wonder who did that.

But I guess that was a good thing – that my dress was laced up again, I mean – even if it felt a bit uncomfortable (Usui – or whoever laced up the dress – must've made a knot with the laces when he was lacing it up), since I think that the guards might've gotten the wrong idea if it wasn't.

I turned back to find Usui, but my search came up negative. I tried listening for any splashes of water from the bathroom, on the off chance that Usui was taking a bath so late in the day, but didn't hear any.

"Um," I turned around to face the guards again. "Usui isn't here. I think you guys might want to, err, look for him…?"

Their expressions changed, and suddenly, I was faced with three hideous horrified faces.

"Kindly," a guard said, "please do not address the Royal Prince by his name, young lady."

Ah, another lecture about politeness. Yippee.

"Ah," I muttered amiably – um, should I add that I also used a little hint of sarcasm? – bowing my head a little. "Of course. Sorry. Um, _Prince Usui _ isn't here, I think –"

But I didn't get to say what I thought, because two of the guards interrupted me halfway.

"Prince Usui is currently talking with the King," they said in unison.

"Then how – who's going to bring me home?" I asked ignorantly.

They gave me an incredulous look, before saying, "A carriage is already waiting for you outside. It will get you back to your village safely. There is no need for the Prince Usui to be present."

I think I do not need to tell you how much my heart ached when they said that.

"Uh, can – can I meet Prince Usui before we depart?" I asked.

I wasn't a least bit surprised when they said no.

Of course. Why would they let a dismissed servant, such as myself, meet the Royal Prince in the middle of his talk with the King?

I slipped on my moccasins and was lead outside, where a horse carriage was waiting for me impatiently.

Usui wasn't there, waiting for me by the carriage.

And even though they told me that Usui wouldn't be coming along just a few minutes ago, I still had a small spark of hope that he would. But seeing that he really wasn't there…

Well, I felt as if someone had yanked my heart out of my chest and ripped it into shreds.

So that was how he was going to do it? No final goodbye? No farewell kisses on the cheek? No embraces? No words of promises that we would be fine, that we would meet again?

That was it?

_Nothing?_

I didn't want to cry, but I couldn't help myself. I was _hurt._

I sobbed quietly as the carriage took me home. I tried blinking the tears back, but whenever I did, more tears escaped my swollen eyes.

I'd got to stop crying. I didn't want my mom and sister to see me cry. I didn't want my _neighbors_ to see me cry. If Usui was there, he would've –

Oh, God… Why did I even _think_ about him?

More tears rolled down my cheeks.

The ride seemed absurdly long and painful – and I'm not talking about those nasty rocks we kept on bumping in to, either – but when the carriage finally stopped, and I heard the driver announce that we had arrived in front of my house – how in the world did he even know where my house was? – I quickly wiped any evidence that I'd been bawling my eyes out and stepped out.

I didn't know how the villagers would react to my returning home, since no one had ever come home are they were brought to the Class territory. And surprisingly, they acted…

…surprisingly normal – much to my astonishment.

Only a few people actually _realized_ that I came out from a Class carriage, and all they did was glance at me for a second, before continuing with what they were doing, like seeing people walk out of a fancy carriage was a daily occurrence in the village – which was _not_, I can assure you that.

It wasn't until the carriage had gone out of eyesight that people started swarming around me like moths around light, asking me how I was, what I did while I was there, why did my eyes look so puffy, and if I wanted to talk about it.

The only answer that I gave was a faint smile and a shake for that last question. And being the kind neighbors that they were, that quickly shut them up.

My mother and sister, wondering what all the commotion was about, came out of the house just as I was about to knock on the door. The look on their faces, shock, bewilderment, before changing into love…

I sprang forward and hugged them both, tears pouring down my cheeks like rain.

"I'm sorry, Mom, Suzuna," I cried. "They… They caught me in the woods… I… I'm sorry."

They hugged me back.

"We missed you _so much!_" they said. "When they came here… We thought… We thought you were dead!"

We bawled our eyes some more, before my mom finally brought me in, not wanting to cause more disturbances outside.

Inside, Mom told me to go inside my room to get changed (she said that it was odd to see me in a dress, which was perfectly understandable, I guess, considering how I almost never wore a dress before) while she and Suzuna, who had already stopped sobbing, prepared dinner.

I took off my shoes and tucked them under my bed. I didn't place them by the door of my room, where I would usually place my hunting boots, because I knew I wouldn't be wearing them, and the sight of those moccasins would just bring back the memories of the Class.

Nostalgia washing over me, I gently pulled the silk lace on my back, and the dress swiftly brushed off my body and fell on the ground. I remembered how I'd asked Usui, who I hadn't been too fond of, to lace up the dress for me in the castle. My cheeks had flushed a brilliant red at that time, whether it was because of my fever or the tingles that had went up my spine whenever his fingers had brushed against my bare skin, I didn't know. All I knew was that I sort of… _liked_ the fact that he had helped me lace up my dress.

God, what was _wrong_ with me?

Shaking my head vigorously to throw the thought out of my mind, I noticed something when I, already dressed in my usual clothes, was about to fold the dress and store it somewhere I wouldn't occasionally go to. It was a paper, folded into a neat square, resting on top of the dress itself.

Well, that explained why the dress felt uncomfortable on me. Someone had placed a freaking note inside it.

Someone who just kept on appearing in my mind even though I was desperately trying to forget about him, even right now.

Curious of what was on the paper, I grabbed the dress into a ball and sat on my bed, clutching the Class attire against my chest as I unfolded the piece of paper.

_Ayuzawa_, my name was written in cursive, with elegant curves and arcs.

_I know that you must be really upset right now, and I'm sorry I couldn't see you go. I had an important conversation with the King. I hope you understand._

_All you need to know is that I love you, Ayuzawa. I do and always will. Please don't forget all the moments we'd spent together, even if some of them are quite traumatizing and mortifying on your part. You should know that I enjoyed being in your company._

_And as for why this letter is where it is, I had no more places I could use to hide it. I didn't want the guards to see this letter, or else they would sense that something is up._

_Goodbye, Ayuzawa. I promise that we will meet again someday._

_With love, Usui._

Though, at that time, I couldn't even read what the prince had used to sign his little note for me, because the tears that were piling up made it impossible to see anything at all.

I was touched. I really was. And while I'd already knew almost everything that he'd wrote, it still made my insides melt with warmth. I felt ridiculous for being mad at his not saying finally goodbyes and everything back then. I knew why he hadn't waited for me by the carriage, and yet I still had the guts to blame it all on him. Really… how self-centered could I get?

I clutched the dress tighter against my body, my hand brushing against the soft fabric. Suddenly I was craving for Usui touch on my skin.

"You… moron," I muttered under my breath. "You think I would forget all those moments where you harassed me?"

And his image flashed in my mind, smiling down at me, his lopsided grin perfect on his face.

"You'll be fine," I could hear him say, all while placing his hand on my cheek, brushing away all my tears. "We'll meet again… sometime soon, I hope."

Only, when I was slowly brought back down to reality, his hand wasn't there, caressing my cheek. What was there was the coldness from the light fog that had seeped in through the gap from my opened window.

I clenched my eyes shut, letting a wild flow of tears roll down, and hugged my legs against my chest. I sobbed against my knees.

_I hate you, Usui…_

…_but I love you even more._

* * *

__**Sorry if it's a little bit cheesy... I've been feeling a little cheesy these days... Sigh...**

**Please review!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Oh wow... Almost a month... /dies**

**I'M SO VERY SORRY! I've been so busy with the start of school and everything... I barely had time to write this month! So again, I'M SORRY!**

**Reviews:**

**wolfbound321: CHEESE. A little cheesiness is lovable. It's WONDERFUL.**

**LorraineJoyce10: Thank you! HIHIHIHI. I. SHOULDN'T. GIVE. SPOILERS... /SLAPS**

**FeelLikeSmiling: ありがとうございます！**

**Magica Ring: Haha, yeah. I LOVE YOU GUYS. HOW CAN I NOT REPLY?**

**xtheBLEACHEDalchemistx: LOL. When I was writing that, I kept on thinking, "Would it be out of his character to not say a final goodbye?" so I got the idea of the note xD**

**usuixmisaki: Sigh... I've not been watching Shugo Chara for a long time now... School and stuff... I forgot where I left off... /dies**

**CorruptedAngelX: HELLO FORMER ANON FAN! LOL**

**AznRomance x3: Ikr... If only boys were like that in real life... Sigh... And yeah, 20 books. Trying to do more next time.**

**blackopalz21: Sorry for taking so long to update x_x... (And I would read the Shugo Chara fanfic that you wrote if I had time. Unfortunately, I've been as busy as heck this past month - just as I'd mentioned before - so I'll try to find time to read them next time!)**

**Guest: I would feel like I'm betraying Misaki and Usui if I ever wrote about Amuto... I'm very weird that way.**

**sunayna4sho: THANK YOU~!**

**Coooolll99: I hope you're still interested in the story :3 Sorry for the long update..**

**whointheworldwouldbelievetha t: (Simply love your freakishly long pen-name xD) Thank you! You have no idea how much that means to me~**

** 11: Yes, there will certainly be more of this story.**

**16waysar: Nah, it's okay. Reviewers or not, you're still one of my beloved readers. Though, I would appreciate if you took the time to review, so THANK YOU! (_-that goes for all of you reviewers out there-_)**

* * *

I ended up sleeping in for two whole days.

I know. Pig, much?

"Ah, Misaki," Mom said when I'd finally woken up. By then, the sun was already up and blazing its unforgiving rays. "I'm preparing lunch right now. Why don't you wait outside while I finish up?"

Yawning, I asked her, "Why didn't anyone wake me up? Now it's too late to go to the woods; it's probably packed with armed guards –" I stopped abruptly.

Flashes of images of my days in the Class crashed in my mind.

Mom, noticing that I'd stopped talking suddenly, looked up from the spring onion that she was chopping on a piece of wood and asked, "What's wrong, Misaki?"

I quickly shook myself out the gallery of pictures inside my head and replied, "Uh, nothing. Err, why didn't you or Suzuna wake me up?"

She smiled at me. "You looked so exhausted… I couldn't let myself to wake you up. I told Suzuna to not bug you today."

"Mom…" I grunted while rubbing my eyes.

"You've gone through a lot, Misaki," Mom chided. "How could I _not_ let you rest?"

I sighed, surrendering to whatever Mom was saying, and smiled at her.

"Now," she said, continuing to shop the spring onions, "why don't you wait outside? Go around the village, perhaps?"

I went out and made my way to an abandoned tract of grassland a few yards from our house, glancing at the direction of my entrance to the woods and seeing a line of men in uniform marching towards it. Just like I'd said, the guards were patrolling around the rusting fence of the woods.

Lying down on the plush green grass, I closed my eyes to guard them from the glaring sun right above me. Even with my eyes closed, the brightness of the day was blinding. I breathed in the fresh air.

It felt good.

The grass was a bit moist from the morning dew; they felt cool against my body. The gentle wind was blowing steadily, brushing softly against my skin. The sounds of wind chimes filled the air, along with the light coos from the birds that were hiding in the trees around the place.

But out of all the things that I could be thinking that time, my mind chose to think about someone that I knew I shouldn't even be thinking about.

His image just appeared out of the blue. His heart-twanging lopsided grin… his blond mess of hair… his broad shoulders... even his emerald-green eyes were ridiculously, meticulously depicted.

Then I suddenly started thinking about the lady in the painting that I saw on my little journey outside of Usui's room and how much he resembled her. She had the same shade of hair _and_ eyes, and her caring smiled was just like his.

Well, of course. She was his mother, after all.

I wondered what Usui got from his father aside from his gender.

Which reminded me, who exactly _was_ Usui's father?

I mean, yeah, any person would say that the King was his father, but… the tone that Usui used whenever he mentioned the King… it's just… argh.

"Argh!" I grunted, my feet kicking away in all directions –

"_Ooof!_"

I froze as my feet sank into something solid, but not as hard as a rock. Something… _flesh-like._

Jerking my eyes open, I jolted up into a sitting position, muttering some really colorful words that I do not recommend anyone using.

"God! What'd you need to kick me so hard for?"

Surprised, I looked towards the direction the voice had came from, muttering, "Ah, um, sorry. I – I didn't – I just – _sorry_."

And, as expected, someone was there in front of me, hugging his stomach from pain on the ground. Apparently, I'd accidentally kicked him there when I was having my sudden outburst of irritation. Good thing I hadn't kicked him somewhere _lower_, where it would, without a doubt, hurt a zillion times worse.

Under the sun, the boy's tousled brown hair seemed to be a shade of gold. His long lashes – ones that were wasted on a guy – glistened.

I quickly got on to my feet, awkwardly approaching the guy with my hands extended in front of me, and stammered, "I – I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

This, I realized, was a useless question, seeing how it was pretty obvious that he _wasn't_ alright.

God, I was turning to Usui…

Don't you _dare_ think about that blond pervert, Misaki. Don't you _dare!_

The guy slowly stopped rolling and started taking in deep breaths. "Y – Yes… I'm alright..."

I kneeled down beside him. "God, I'm so, very sorry. I – I was frustrated, and I started kicking, and then you suddenly appeared, and I accidentally kicked you, and I –"

Then, much to my astonishment, the guy started laughing. If you consider chuckling while wheezing laughing, that is.

Oh God… He was starting to lose it. I kicked him so hard that he was going coo-coo.

"W – Why are you laughing? Are you going bonkers? Oh God… I didn't think I kicked you _that_ hard," I stammered, my hands flying over to his face, his forehead, to make sure that he didn't break his skull, too – though, that wouldn't be fully my fault, since I hadn't kicked him on the head.

He just chuckled some more, saying, "No, no… No, I'm not going bonkers…"

"Then why are you _laughing?_" I tilted his face to see if he'd scraped his chin. No scratches. Good.

"N – No… It's just… you're overreacting…"

I lifted his head up, causing his brown locks to brush against the air. Alleluia, no blood was dripping.

"Overreacting? _Overreacting?_" I echoed in an incredulous manner while lifting his head even more to really make sure that no blood was dripping. "That's ridiculous."

"Uh, hey…"

I turned his head to check his ears. "Mhuh?" No scratches at all.

"…this position… Don't you think it's a bit… _awkward?_"

I stopped twisting his head around.

And that was when I realized how close our faces were. Our noses were practically touching each other.

Blushing inconceivably red, I dropped they guy's head like it was on fire – though, it really _did_ look like it was on fire, what with the sun's rays casting down on his golden-brown hair like that – and turned away from him to hide my flaming cheeks.

I lifted my chin up and crossed my arms. "W – Well, I – I just wanted to make sure you're alright! B – But if you're so ungrateful for it, then I – I guess you're fine!" I yelled.

A moment of silence filled the whole planet.

Before uproarious laughter filled the entire universe.

Clenching and unclenching my fists in frustration, I stood up and was about to storm away when my hand was suddenly seized from behind.

"Eh – Ekh! Let go of –"

But before I could finish what I wanted to say, I was pulled backwards, and I ended up tripping on my own foot.

I know. Clumsy, that was me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and prepared myself for the fall, for the pain that would jolt up from my backside, all the way up my spine to my central nervous system…

But the piercing pain never came.

I mean, yeah, I fell on the ground. But it wasn't so painful…

And the ground felt weird. Why was the ground so weird? It was all tender – no, not like jell-o's – and warm and it was moving and –

Oh, God.

No.

My eyelids fluttered open as my hands, which had instinctively found their way to the front of my chest, touched the _'ground'_ I was on. Beneath my hand, something hammered.

And I gasped when I realized what really was happening.

I was lying on my shoulder… on top of the stranger's chest, my feet in between his own. And when I lifted my head a little, I found my face being only a whisker away from his, my eyes right in front of his lips.

My heart stopped.

I lifted my gaze from the guy's lips and found him already looking down at me. His eyes, I learned, was the color of the sky above us, if not bluer.

"I – I'm sorry!"I started getting off him when his hand – the one that seized my hand – went around me and pulled me towards him even more.

And before I could even stop myself from getting near him even more, he crashed his lips onto mine.

The whole world stopped moving.

I was paralyzed.

As he continued brushing his lips on mine, all I did – all I was able to do – was lie there on top of him, not breathing, with my eyes as big as my clenched fists. I was frozen like ice.

My mind, however, wasn't as still as my body.

The second his lips were on mine, all I thought about – all I could think about – was how I was betraying Usui. Ridiculous, I know, since we weren't even officially… you know… _dating_, but still… Usui was the only person that had kissed me – the only person that I had _allowed_ to kiss me – and now there was this random stranger, who – I must admit – was burning with male sensuality, _kissing_ me after _pulling _me on top of him. It was just… gah!

But I soon gained back my ability to move and speak again. I pushed him away as fast as I could, with as much power as I could manage to manifest at that time, causing his head to crash against the ground, and got off him.

And with the amount of dignity I still had in me, I dashed away.

But I was too slow. The guy had seen the tears flowing down my flustered cheeks.

* * *

**Gasps. Screams.**

**A NEW CHARACTER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORY!**

**Yeah, I know. Big surprise. I just decided to change the plot a bit, because I think the original plot would be too short and all... So yeaaaa.**

**Please review~!**


	23. Chapter 23

**So hello there, people of the net. This is my reward for you people who have been waiting for so long for the last chapter - ANOTHER chapter!**

**Sigh... I know... Lame-o. But I do have something new that I'd love all of you to know.**

**I'M GOING TO WRITE ANOTHER STORY! (While in the same time writing this one, too)**

**It's just... I've been getting a lot of writing blocks these days, and I decided that with another story, I can just interchange stories when I'm blocked in one. I'll probably upload it tomorrow or the day after.**

**Also, a lot of you have been asking whether or not this mysterious (not really) guy is Hinata. All I can say is, you'll find out in this chapter.**

**Reviews: (To save my time, because I'm breaking my curfew right now and I'll be having school tomorrow, I'll skip the people who only asked about the Hinata issue I've discussed above)**

**whointheworldwouldbelievetha t: LOL. Yeah, I was _planning_ to make Usui disguise himself as the guy, but then that would be... awkward... Idk, I just don't really feel, erm, comfortable knowing that Usui is disguising himself as another guy to see this one girl when he has his tasks as a prince to take care of. (And believe me, yes, this guy is hot)**

**DianXx: Favorite band or musician? Hmm... I don't really listen to music that much now... I guess Adele's songs are the ones played most on my laptop... Arr, I don't know. Most of the time, I listen to piano covers of songs and anime/game OSTs. Ah, One Direction! My friends are in LOVE with that band! You guys should totally meet together and fangirl together xD**

**Magica Ring: I've been a) stuck with a writer's/writing block; b) at home and school, studying my butt off; c) Jakarta, Indonesia. (Pick one answer that suits your question best)**

**AznRomance x3: School in ONE WEEK? I'm going to have another 2-week holiday in two weeks (Ramadan Holiday or something) xD**

**Coooolll99: I would be telling you spoilers if I was to answer your question, fellow reader. So... yeah.**

**HallaryNYC: OMG are you from New York? (Your penname)**

**AH, THAT'S RIGHT! EVERYONE TELL ME WHERE YOU COME FROM! YOUR COUNTRY, YOUR STATE, YOUR CITY, YOUR BLOCK, YOUR NUMBER, YOUR BEDROOM, YOUR BED!**

**LOL, um, no. Only tell me the first 3 (or 1, or 2. Whichever strikes your fancy - love that word)**

* * *

"Ah, Misaki. You're just in time… What happened?" Mom asked as I came dashing in the house, tearing past the kitchen as fast as a bullet.

"Nothing," I lied, running up the flight of stairs. "I'll be down in a few. Start eating before me." And I slammed the door to my room shut.

Inside, I brought out the letter Usui had left me and started reading it.

I didn't know why I was doing what I did. I knew for a fact that re-reading what he wrote would only bring out more tears than what was already shed, but I just continued reading. Somehow, the words in the letter were soothing me.

'_All you need to know is that I love you, Ayuzawa.'_

Usui's voice echoed in my mind as my eyes repeatedly re-read the line. All I needed to know was that he loved me… I had a really warm and fuzzy feeling inside about that line.

But something was wrong.

I shouldn't be re-reading a goodbye letter from a person I had no future with. I should just let go and forget him, so that both of us could proceed with our lives, right?

I mean, what was I supposed to do in 5 years if I got sad again? Read the same line again? That's just pathetic, don't you think? Not to mention how cliché that would be.

But reading his letter felt so freaking _good!_ It was like I was by Usui's side again, lying down with my head on his lap, listening to him whispering words with his deep voice. It felt like gravity wasn't there anymore, and my heart was floating around aimlessly around my chest. It felt like… It felt…

It felt perfect.

But, of course, nothing was perfect. We were a pair of star-crossed lovers. We would never be together. We were destined to be apart, despite our feelings for each other. We were just not meant to be.

Sighing ruefully, I folded the piece of paper back along its folds and tucked it under a broken arrow that I always had on one side of my bed – in case something came in my room at night – just as Mom called out to me, saying that the food was ready.

"Coming, Mom," I shouted back as I made my way down to the kitchen.

Mom, I decided, should never find out about my messed up love life.

xXx

I went out to hunt for night game a couple hours after twilight. After weeks of wearing a dress and carrying a load no more than… say, 0.1 ounce, wearing my hunting attire and carrying around two sheaths of arrows and a bow felt like dragging around five corpses while wearing an attire made entirely out of concrete.

But aside from my aching limbs – and the fact that I was hunting on protected grounds – the night was quite pleasant.

Until the small encounter with someone I really didn't fancy, at least. But I'll get to that later.

The sky, a perfect shade of navy blue, was completely covered with stars – I couldn't tell any of the constellations that were there, but I was pretty sure that there were a lot of them. The trees stood still as the moon hid behind a cloud; the constant hoot from owls and other nocturnal birds filled the air.

I snuck in my hole, which – surprisingly – was still in perfect shape, and crawled my way deeper into the woods.

It was the same woods that I'd first met Usui in, also the one where we'd visited together while I was entitled as his servant; only I wasn't venturing that area of the woods. Just the area where I knew game roamed in.

Still… there was something inside me, a spark of hope, that wished that Usui would be there, and that I would meet him, and we would hang out together as how any other star-crossed lovers would.

God… I fell hard, didn't I?

Waving the thought away, I shuffled towards my usual hiding place – the bush. My hands instinctively reached out to my bow and an arrow, in case a prey suddenly showed itself to me. Nope, no such luck.

I hid for a moment, listening in the dead silence of the night for soft footsteps or even the flutter of wings, getting nothing. Not even a quick swaying of branches.

Nothing. Just sile –

"FUSSSHH!"

I jerked open my eyes, aware of the incoming prey. I set my bow in position and drew an arrow, closing my left eye for a more accurate view…

"You do realize that this ground is illegal, right?"

Without a second to spare, my body whirled around, despite the way I'd positioned my legs. I released the arrow, felt it swishing away from me.

But a force slapped my hand a tenth of a second after that and my weapons – including the released arrow – clattered away from me. And before I could stop my hand from touching the moving arrow, my fingers brushed against it, the index feather cutting deep into my skin.

That was when I realized that the voice was human.

"Whoa! I'm not prey!" he – I was sure it was a he – said, exhaling audibly.

He sounded absurdly familiar, but I was sure that no one had ever ventured in the woods at night before – aside from me, that is. And I'm sad to say, he didn't sound like Usui, so he was definitely out of the list.

I looked up at him, but even then I didn't know who he was; the only thing I could see was his silhouette because the moon was behind him.

"What do you want?" I asked, hating how shaky my voice sounded.

He sighed before turning half way away from me. "Nothing. What makes you think that I wanted anything?"

This personality… this voice…

"Y-YOU'RE THAT GUY FROM BEFORE!" I yelled, hearing my voice echo around the woods.

He turned half of his face towards me, and that was when I saw the annoying grin on his face.

"You – you – before – you –" I stuttered, my hands clawing the ground, desperate to reach for my bow. "Get away from me!" I kicked his shin.

He doubled over, falling beside me on his shoulder with a loud thud. I scooted away from the guy.

"W-what was that kick all about?" he whined while turning himself around.

"Just – GET AWAY FROM ME." I finally felt the smooth wood of my bow and grabbed it tight. "Never come near me again, understand?"

I stood up and, after brushing myself off, started to storm away from the guy.

But before I could even put a distance of 5 feet in between us, he spoke up.

"Hey, you're bleeding," he said.

"None of your business," I sang, picking up speed.

The truth was, I didn't know how he could've known. That my fingers were bleeding, I mean. It burned like acid and hurt a lot, but I didn't think that any blood was dripping or anything. It was just a small cut – a mere paper cut – and no one except for me would be able to decipher that it was there.

And yet he did. So of course it surprised a great deal out of me – so much that I didn't have anything better to say than that it wasn't his business.

_PLAK!_

I was so busy worrying about how he'd known about my cut that I didn't see the arrow coming. It was only when it had planted itself into a tree directly in front of me that I did.

I gasped and stared at it for a while, wide-eyed. Had the wind blew in another direction, it would've lashed through my face and leave an unsightly gash on it. Not only that, it might scrape my eyes and damaging them. Had I been only that close to being a visually impaired beast?

"You're bleeding. Now come over here."

I turned around to face him. "Are you _out of your freaking mind?_ That arrow could've lashed my face! Heck, that arrow could've planted itself inside my _skull!_ You could've killed me with that!" I stared horrifically at him.

"You're not the only great archer in the village, you know," he said. Even without seeing it, I knew that he was grinning. "Now, go here so that I can take a look at your wounds." He patted the spot on the ground in front of him.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much. And it's just a cut; I'm no baby." I stuck out my chin and crossed my arms.

"I do not doubt that. However, since your injury was mostly my fault – a small percentage of it was your fault, because you pointed the arrow at me – I am obliged to take responsibility to what I've done." He folded his legs in.

"How is it _my _fault that you just suddenly appeared behind me, while I was in the middle of a _hunt_, and trigger every hunting instincts that I have?"

"Come over here."

"I am _not –_"

"Come over here."

"You're out of your –"

"Come over here."

Giving up speech, I narrowed my eyes at him. He just looked back at me, his eyes showing boredom.

"Come over here," he repeated.

Grunting, I plucked out the arrow from the tree and placed it inside my shaft. Then I walked towards him, my shoulders slumped.

"Good girl," he said. When I'd taken a seat a foot away from him, he asked for my bleeding fingers, and I extended it.

"Just so you know, I'm still mad for the whole thing this afternoon," I muttered, looking up at him through my bangs.

He took my palm and pulled it nearer to him. "Why are you mad for what happened this afternoon? You weren't the one who got kicked in the stomach."

I turned my face away. "Well, I got sexually harassed, didn't I?"

"I wouldn't call it a sexual harassment."

"Oh yeah?" I suddenly find it hard to breathe as his hands continued to brush over mine. "Then what would you call it? An attempt of assault?"

"I don't know… It was a mere kiss," he replied. He'd brushed away the blood that had spread around one finger, and was working his way to the cut itself.

"Not good in calling things, I see."

From the corner of my eyes, I saw him shake his head. "I just don't get what you're so mad about. It was a kiss from me. If it had been Bash who kissed you, then I would understand why you were so mad."

I looked up at him incredulously, my eyes narrowed into thin slits. "He's married!" I cried. "So that's just plain… _wrong!_"

He exhaled audibly, his breath brushing against my palm. "The point is," he said, "you shouldn't be mad, okay?"

"Easy to say for a person who has never been sexually harassed. It's annoying, you know, to be harassed." I looked down.

_I would know_, I thought, _since I've been harassed a lot of times just in the course of a few weeks. By two people, no less._

When he was done cleaning my wounds – which had went far from painless, unfortunately – he let go of my hand and grabbed the lower front of his cotton shirt…

…and tore a strip out of it.

"W-what are you _doing? _Are you –?"

"Shh," he hissed. "You're going to attract predators if you keep on talking in that volume."

He reached out for my hand again before wrapping the strip of cloth he'd ripped out around them, all clamped together. So by the time he was finished, I wasn't able to stretch my four fingers – thumb was excluded because I didn't hurt myself there.

"You do realize that they are just cuts, don't you?" I asked.

"Yes, and it will get worse if they aren't treated correctly," he said before flashing a lopsided grin. I turned away again, feeling, despite myself, my cheeks blush.

But he wasn't done. He held my hand still, my palm open and facing up, and ran a finger from the middle of my palm all the way to the hem of my jacket. And just when I was about to ask what he was doing, he lifted my hand and placed his head on it, his nose trailing where his finger had left off.

My chest felt tight again.

"What are you doing, you moron!" I exclaimed, trying to wrench my hand away but feeling every nerve connected to my arm shut down. "It's ticklish, idiot!"

And as if what he was doing wasn't bad – and ticklish – enough, he had to lower his face even more and let his _lips_ touch my palm.

My other hand suddenly flew out, grabbing and pulling my injured hand away from him.

"That's it," I muttered, feeling out of breath as I stood up to my feet. "I'm out of here."

And when I started storming away from him, I heard him shout.

"I'm Kazuma! And it was nice to see you, too!"

"I cannot care less, you harasser!" I shouted back as I picked up my pace, my shaft still full and my game bag empty.

Little did I realize how similar the scene was with one that had occurred in the past, only it'd been with another person, in a different time of day.

* * *

**So, there you have it! He is NOT Shintani. His character is certainly not Shintani-ish.**

**Please review!**


	24. Chapter 24

**This week has been EXTREMELY busy and depressing and just ASDFGHJKL for me. I've been so busy that I needed to plan out _everything_ to the minutes (I mean, can you imagine that? _"Uhm, so I can only attend today's meeting until 3:37. It will take me approximately 3 minutes to get to my ride home and then a 12-minute ride home. I'll need to take the lift for approximately 4 minutes and then get used to the house for 2 minutes. Booting up my laptop will take me 4 minutes. So I will then have 58 minutes to finish whatever assignment I have that needs research and a typed up report before I'll have to open up Skype for my online meeting to cover up for the time I skipped in school."_)**

**Okay, sorry for that long... um... rant? I don't know. But, yeeah. So I'm really sorry for taking, what, a week? Five days? However-many-days it took me to update this story. Yeah...**

**Oh, anddddddd... I have a surprise (not really now) for you in the bottom of the page (DO NOT SKIP AHEAD).**

**Reviews:**

**riaanaa: Happy -late- friendship day to you too! (And, WHOAAAAA! Bangladesh? THAT'S SO COOL. YOU'RE SO COOL. SAY HI TO EVERYONE THERE FOR ME! XD)**

**DianXx: Um, no. Sadly, my friends are not interested in writing or reading. They only read because we have this system in our school where you must at least read for one hour a week in school (so they combine students per grades in rooms and have them read silently with a teacher in front, scrutinizing us.)**

**blackopalz21: Haha, you're not the only one! AND, LIKE, OMGEEEHH. DID YOU SAY PENNSYLVANIA? I HAVE NO IDEA WHY, BUT I JUST REALLY LOVE THE NAME OF THAT STATE.**

**MaidSamaFanGirl: Kazuma Yagami? Err, I don't know who he is... *goes off to research* OMG. THAT GUY IS KAZUMA YAGAMI? I've only watched Stigma of The Wind for a few episodes, but he's just so... SO... SO KAZUMA YAGAMI-ish. (My vocab sucks, sorry) AH, IT'S OKAY! PEOPLE HAVE LIVES TOO! YOU HAVE YOURS!**

**usuixmisaki: *GONGGGGG* GIVE THIS AWESOME READER A PRIZE! Yes, I got the name from Faster Than a Kiss, but NOT the character (does Ma-kun even have blue eyes? I forgot. I have the memory span of a goldfish...) YEEEEPS. CALIFORNIA? C.A.L.I.F.O.R.N.I.A? *faints***

**CorruptedAngelX: No, there are still a lot of chapters to come.**

**whointheworldwouldbelievetha t: Good guy? GOOD GUY? _This guy kisses Misaki out of the blue!_ GOOD GUY? xP BOSTWANA~~~ THAT'S THE FIRST COUNTRY THAT I MEMORIZED OUT OF THE WHOLE CONTINENT OF AFRICA! *childhood memories***

**AzmRomance x3: I live in Jakarta, Indonesia (no states here :3) OH MY WONDERFUL POTATO JELLY BEANS! ATLANTA! I had (past tense intended) a friend (online friend) who lives there! And I hope you can focus well in school! There are a few otakus in my school, but I don't usually hang with them. Heck, I don't even think they know that I'm an otaku too.**

**lumin ab intra: Thank you! I will try to really build this Kazuma character into something that deserves Misaki's attention. (I have no idea what I'm talking about.)**

**Ai Seikatsu: Haha, I know! I tried my best making them all in character, but it's harder in this story than in my other stories.**

**Coooolll99: :3 :3 :3 :3 :3 *grinsssss***

**xtheBLEACHEDalchemistx: Um, no. Hinata won't be playing a role in this story. Haha,. Why? Do you want him to be in? xD OH MY FRIGGIN BAWBWIE! SEOUL? SEOUL? My friends would've killed every person in this planet just to live there. (Huge k-pop fan, see)**

**the allyson wonderland: _"Hey, Kazuma, stay away from my girl."_ I have no idea why, but I read that in Edward Cullen's tone. (MAYBE because I was and am watching the re-runs of Eclipse on Fox right now. My sister loves it and so I have to, too! PLEASURE, ISN'T IT?)**

* * *

"So, what do you have tonight, Misaki?" Bash asked while slamming his butcher knife down on the joint of an animal's leg (I could differentiate between animals with all their limbs and skin attached, but I wasn't blessed with the ability to do the same thing with a leg of a dead, skinned animal).

"Nothing tonight, Bash," I replied, lifting my weightless game bag. "Got an accident on the way."

I didn't mention that the cause of the accident was because some guy decided to sneak up on me, or that the same guy was the one who treated the injury, because I knew he couldn't care less. He minded his and only his own business, which was actually why I found it comfortable talking to him, because he wouldn't be all unduly or inappropriately curious.

"Ah, alright. I've still got many anyway," he replied, swaying his knife up in the air before slamming it back down, this time on the ankle of the leg. I winced.

"I was wondering if you have some rabbit. Suzuna said that she wanted to try a new recipe with them," I said, digging in my pockets for the coins that I'd stuffed in earlier.

"Yeah, I do." He went and grabbed what I assumed to be a rabbit, and dropped it inside my game bag. I gave him just enough coins to pay for the meat.

I said goodbye to Bash, promised that I would return with something tomorrow and went home. On my way, I realized that the cloth wrapping my hand was starting to feel heavy and wet. I guess I must have scratched myself pretty bad, haven't I?

"Stupid," I muttered under my breath as I played with the rough edge of the cloth. "Stupid arrow. Stupid blood. Stupid."

What? I fancy the word stupid. Is it so wrong?

Apparently so, because just as I was about to mutter some more 'stupid's, a voice whispered beside my ear.

"You know, I would blame it on the person who drew the arrow and owns the blood."

My heart lurched forward, but I showed no signs of shock. Without even glancing at him, I asked him to go away.

"But I'm living in this direction, too," Kazuma said.

Great. He was my neighbor. Oh joy.

"Then get away from me," I deadpanned. "From tomorrow onwards, you are not in the position to be within the radius of 10 feet near me."

"What kind of rule is that?" he asked in a ludicrous manner.

"It's not a rule, nor a law. It's a requirement if you're really living in this direction." My house was less than a block away. Thank God.

"Does this… _requirement_ of yours apply to everyone else living in this direction?"

"No," I replied, yawning a bit. It was getting rather late. "No, just you. A requirement made especially for you. Don't you feel special now?"

"You sarcasm is just…" His voice trailed off.

"It's amazing, I know." One more house… "Okay, now if you would excuse me, I believe I'm home."

I turned and headed for my door.

"I believe I am, too."

I stopped abruptly and turned my head towards him. "What?"

"Wait, you don't know?" he asked.

"Know what? What am I supposed to know?" I shouted. "Am I missing anything? Because the last time I was here, which was only about a couple hours ago, this was _my _house."

He shook his head. "No, my house isn't here." He nodded towards my front door. "It's there."

I followed his eyes all the way toward the house right beside mine. Or should I say, the _uninhabited _house beside mine.

"But that house has been empty for years," I said.

"Well." Kazuma exhaled audibly. "It's not now. My brother and I are staying there now."

He had a _brother?_ And they were living _next to me?_ Where were their parents?

This was not how I'd pictured the night to be.

I voiced out my questions, and he nodded. "But it's only two of us now," he added on to his nod. "Our parents… They passed away a few years ago."

My resentment for him suddenly changed into empathy. "I'm very sorry," I muttered, my voice barely audible.

"Nah, it's okay." He flashed a rueful smile at me.

I closed my eyes tight, feeling the pain I once felt when Dad left my family and me alone, a few years back. My eyes had produced so much tears that I thought I was going to be blind forever. My body had felt extremely frail and weak, as if my dad had taken all my bones and muscles with him when he'd left.

But I still had Mom, so I couldn't really say that I knew how he felt.

I shook my head and opened my eyes. I felt some of my hatred towards his guts starting to fill inside me again, and I turned away stubbornly.

"W-with the knowledge that I would be having an annoying neighbor, I would really love to call it a night," I said, heading towards the door again. "Goodnight, the-person-who-isn't-allowed-to-be-near-me."

"Kazuma, girl. The name's Kazuma!"

I sighed and opened the door. "Fine." I walked in my house. "Goodnight, _Kazuma_."

And with that, I slammed the door close.

* * *

**I didn't get the chance to say this just now, but you guys have NO IDEA how delighted I am, now that I learned I have such a broad, umm, _group of readers?_ I don't know, my vocabulary is really failing my these days, but yeah. I'm just really joyed to learn that so many people around the world are reading my stories! I feel like crying right now!**

**Anyway, here's the link to my new story (just add this behind ' ') /s/8417126/1/A_Retelling_of_My_Story**


	25. Chapter 25

**Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Please don****'t kill me...**

**I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR A WHOLE MONTH. I'VE BEEN OUT OF COUNTRY FOR 2 WEEKS AND HAD TONNES OF TESTS TO STUDY FOR AFTER I CAME BACK, AND I HADN'T HAD THE TIME TO WRITE AND UPDATE AND I'M JUST SO SORRY!**

**Dear readers, can you please forgive your fellow amateur, not-professional writer? Pwease?**

**Look, let's just do it this way: Everyone suggest a punishment for me (something not too crazy, please) and I will choose one in random ( ). Anything at all, and I will inform you if your punishment is unacceptable.**

**Reviews:**

**the allyson wonderland: OMG LOL. That is one of the scenes I've been thinking about using in the future XD**

**Coooolll99: Ah the country thing. OMGOMGOMGOMG MALAYSIA? WE'RE NEIGHBOURS-BY-COUNTRIES! :D (And no, I can't tell you whether or not she will fall in love with him. All I can say is: Be patient, fellow reader. XD)**

**AznRomance x3: A cookie with Usui's face? OMG I'll place it in a transparent glass box and admire it everyday.**

**MaidSamaFanGirl: I won't stop updating... I'll just take a long time to do so.**

**Magica Ring: Sorry for not updating quickly _**

**blackopalz21: Dracula came from Transylvania? REALLY? *hops on a plane there***

**FeelLikeSmiling: Haha. Thank you! (But seriously, my vocab is horrible)**

**usuixmisaki: Ma-kun in another life xD And about Usui, he'll show up... soon.**

**xtheBLEACHEDalchemistx: _' the untrustworthy fellow who will fall for Misa and then try to steal her away from her Prince Usui... '_ LOLOLOLOL. And, um, no, I don't like K-pop (and I mean that in the nicest sense of the phrase). I never heard any songs (aside from Gangnam Style xD That's epic.)**

**whointheworldwouldbelievetha t: Gluttony version of Hinata XD Nicely phrased.**

**chahath: I'm sorry.**

**bevy: Naaah, it's fine :) As I always say, _people have lives outside of FF_.**

* * *

The next morning, I woke up before the sun was even up. Mum and Suzuna were still asleep in their bedrooms, so I decided to stay inside my room until the sun was up and it was time for all of us to wake up and do our daily routine.

Though I've got to say that staying inside a room that was probably only useful to sleep and change in with only a book that you've read for a thousand times for entertainment isn't really appealing, especially when you aren't a least bit sleepy anymore.

It was only when I looked out the window of my room that I found something interesting to observe.

The view that my window offered was the field that I'd spent my time in yesterday. Dead leaves were scattered all over the place, and from my room I could barely make out the outlines of two red squirrels chasing each other, scaling a tree in spirals. But this wasn't what had got my attention.

What had shooed away my boredom was the view right across my window, inside the window of the house next to me: The outlines of a boy against the background of blinding light.

This strived as something extremely peculiar to me as I'd never seen anything there – not even a spark of light, only utter blackness that seemed to climb out of the place eerily.

Then the figure turned to an angle that allowed the light to illuminate its silhouette, and I realized who the figure was.

Of course. How could I forget something that I just learned the night before?

It was the-person-who-was-not-allowed-to-go-near-me. He was living beside me now. Yippee.

And he wasn't wearing a shirt – or anything else to cover up that well-sculpted chest of his.

Buff.

Just one word: Buff.

I quickly – and quite reluctantly, unfortunately – tore my gaze away from him when I felt, despite myself, my cheeks heating up. That was from the anger, I told myself. But honestly saying, I didn't quite believe myself.

I was blushing crimson red because of anger. Of course I was.

xXx

I snuck in my hole and resurfaced at the other end. The morning sun was hidden by puffs of gray clouds, making the sky so dark I kept on thinking that it was in the evening.

I made my way to my usual bush, which was starting to wither as the season progressed to change into autumn, and made myself comfortable. I pulled my jacket tighter around me as the wind picked up, before adjusting my bow and arrow.

It was weird how animals could sense the horrible weather and hide themselves from it. It was like they had a sixth sense that we humans didn't (if we did, then I wouldn't have went hunting today). They just knew when to come out and when to stay home.

I wondered what it would feel like, having a sixth sense. I mean, it didn't need to be weather forecasting, it could be anything, ranging from stopping a wound from bleeding, reading other people's mind, or even knowing what was happening at your house when you were in someplace else.

I know. Dream on, right?

I sighed and sat down, leaning on the tree beside the bush, not even bothering to look for game. I was going to go home empty-handed again – I knew that for sure, so why bother?

After fixing my bun so that I could rest my head properly, I placed my weapons by my side and stretched out my legs, hearing as my knees click. I cracked my knuckles and stretched my arms out as well. I yawned.

By then, the wind was picking up dead leaves and throwing them everywhere. Dust and dirt found their way to my face, and I had to cover up my entire face with the hood of my jacket just to block them away.

I didn't know what I was going to do, how I was going to spend the rest of the day here, but I surely couldn't go back home now, when all those Class guards were patrolling the perimeter of the woods. I could sleep, perhaps, but what if it started to rain? I didn't want to have to go home drenched with rainwater.

But the weather was so gloomy and breezy… and my jacket was around me tight enough that it was comfortable… and my eyelids felt so heavy and my eyes so sore… and it wasn't going to rain… and it was a sunny day at a park…

And the corners of my vision started to darken, slowly engulfing me in a pool of black and unawareness.

A thunder woke me up from what seemed like the best sleep I'd ever gotten in my whole life.

Like, one minute I wasn't even aware of my existence, and the next my backside landed on the wet, muddy ground and splashed water all over my shirt.

It took me a moment or so to get rid of the vagueness of the world through my vision and get my heart back beating normally, and by then I'd learned that it was raining. My clothes were completely soaked, hanging on me like a kid hanging on his mother in an earthquake, and my hair stuck stubbornly on my skin.

In other words, I was going to get sick if I didn't get out of the rain soon enough.

Grabbing my hunting gears, which were getting so muddy that I had to practically feel for them in the ground, I stood up, crouching a little because I was still to sleepy, and started making my way back home. Thunders and lightning were roaring and flashing in the sky.

Just how was I going to get back without getting busted by those guards, I thought. I was so going to get caught again. And this time, they wouldn't be sending me to the palace, but rather the execution grounds. I was going to starve, so much that all that was left of me were my bones draped with my pale skin. And _then_ they would allow me to be killed in the most brutal way possible, but I would still die in the end and suffer no more. I would be free.

That was the kind of nonsense I was thinking about when the sky flashed brilliantly white, an incredibly loud exploding sound came bursting from my left, and it collapsed on top of me.

There was a flash of intense, blinding pain.

It was dark. It was bright.

It was cold. It was hot.

There were deafening rings echoing inside my ears. It was eerily quiet.

I was perplexed. It was perplexing. My head felt like it was going to explode.

And it seemed like it did when I opened my eyes and a spectrum of color filled my vision.

* * *

**Sigh... I'm having troubles typing my stories up. I'm better off with pen and paper these days...**

**Anyway, please review!**


	26. Chapter 26

**One word: Writer's block.**

**Okay, that's two words. My mistake.**

**I'm sorry I haven't been updating frequently these couple months. I'm just not feeling like myself. I procrastinate more than I should (even more than I ever did) these days (_months_), and I'm sorry. I've been having mental breakdowns and emotional distress, and I guess those contribute to my lack of writing, too. Sorry.  
**

**Just to let you know how big of a block I had, I began writing this chapter three weeks ago, and I've just completed it yesterday (and it's not even that long!). BUT, I've gotten rid of the block and I'm currently finishing up chapter 27, so that's good right?**

**Well, anyway, I'm sorry. Let's proceed to the reviews:**

**FeelLikeSmiling: Yes, you _are_ a loyal reader! And thank you for the constructive comments about the last chapter! I really love reading it over and over again. LOL. (And sorry I couldn't fulfill my punishment. Maybe you can think of another one?)**

**riaanaa: I AM FORGIVEN! *DANCES* LOL.**

**Magica Ring: Well, I will definitely keep up with this story until it's finished, but I just can't guarantee how often I update and everything.**

**rawrryy69: You and me both, my friend. I miss Usui, too, and I can't wait to write -SPOILERS-.**

**meggie-moo s: I WANT TO TELL YOU THE ANSWER, BUT IT WILL INCLUDE A LOT OF SPOILERS, SO I WON'T. SORRY.**

**Coooolll99: I live in Indonesia :)**

**Guest: I'm sorry, because we update _as we write_. If you'd like to read a story where the chapters are there without having to wait, I suggest you buy a book or read a completed story.**

**AznRomance x3: It really comes down to what medium I'm using more currently. Last year (when I was writing Loving My Dead Lover) I was MUCH better off typing my stories up. BUT, since I have to practice writing on paper using pen (for Cambridge), my teacher is forcing us to write, instead of type. (And don't worry about sounding like a teacher! I LOVE READING TEACHER-SOUNDING COMMENTS ABOUT MY WRITING! Too bad my teachers have never said a word about how I write and everything. Sigh.)**

**Pru: I do not mean to sound rude, but you (nor your comment and threat about not reading this story anymore) cannot possibly change the course of this plot. I'm not saying that I am or am not making romance or anything of the like between the two characters, but even if I was, I couldn't possible change the whole reason of the character's existence just because a reader doesn't like it. (And I don't get what you mean by this story being similar to The Hunger Games if I was making romance between the two characters. Sure, the whole love-triangle thing is quite similar, but aside from that, I can't really see any other connections.) So, with all due respect, if you have anything against my writing or the plot of my story, you are welcome to not read it. I am not here to force people to read what they hate. I apologize for not providing you with the type of story that suits your predilections, and thank you for your understanding.**

* * *

I screamed and shrieked a tenth of a second after I opened my eyes. It was too bright all of a sudden, as though the planet had revolved out of its orbit and was light-years closer to the sun than it had been before. My eyes burned and tinged as I continued to shut them close, my brain pounding.

I couldn't move my body without having flashes of immense blinding pain shooting up my spine. My hands were indescribably sore, and my feet… oh, don't even get me _started_ on my feet. To say that it felt as if someone had chopped them off would be an understatement to the grossest proportions.

My ears were still ringing, the left one more than the right, and the whole world was filled with eerie rings and splashes or raindrops.

I stayed still for some time, trying to figure out a way to get up and open my eyes without irritating my nerves and physically damaging the only organs that I could use to see. The pain from my hands was very slowly, but surely, diminishing little by little as the minutes went by, but my legs and ears showed no such progress. Well, I guess hands were better than nothing, right?

The ground shook, rumbling like the stomach of one who hadn't eaten for a couple of days, and even with my eyes closed I knew that the duo lightning and thunder had struck somewhere nearby.

This was bad, I thought. I needed to get up. Fast.

I attempted to open my eyes again, slower this time. My eyes gradually went from squints to round orbs.

The world wasn't as bright as it had been when I first opened my eyes – thankfully.

Gingerly, I looked around me. It was chaos, and I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but finding out that a gigantic tree had fallen down on me was definitely not it.

I stared at it for a while, taking in the pain in my leg where the tree had landed on. It was obvious from the size of the tree that I wouldn't be able to lift it up, and I didn't have anything to help me lift it. Lifting the tree was not a choice.

And I guessed it was that, the feeling of utter hopelessness and isolation, which made me shout my lungs out for help.

But if I'd thought shouting for help in the middle of the forest, during a heavy rain, would bring me aid, I was up for a disappointment. If there was anything that I'd learn from the years of daily hunting – or even just_ living_ in the area everyday – that'd be that nobody stepped out of their house – much less the forest – in the middle of a rain.

So I gave up shouting. I gave up trying to kick-flip the tree – not that I tried really hard on that. I even gave up trying to see if I had any broken bones or injured limbs: there were too many of them to count. I stayed silent as the rain continued pouring down on me.

It had been one hour, maybe two, or three. I couldn't be sure how long I'd stayed under the rain, but however long it'd been, I was sure that it was way longer than I'd ever been exposed to a heavy rain previously.

The raindrops felt like tiny swords, piercing and cutting into my shaking body. It was agonizing, but there was nothing I could do that I hadn't already done. I'd wrapped my hands around me to preserve what little body heat I had left, and aside from that, I didn't know what else I could do.

The place seemed to turn darker and darker as the minutes ticked by, and by the time my body was completely frozen, it was just a shade away from being pitch black.

"Please…" I breathed. "He –"

And just as a lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the forest just a bit, my body felt as though it was shattering into pieces of ice.

The shade of grey became pitch black.

xXx

I was in a field, completely covered with bright flowers and tall grass as far as my eyes could see. The sun was shining down on me, showering me with brilliant radiance and warmth. The wind was gently strolling by, dragging the colored buds dancing along with it.

I was lying on the ground, my bare shoulders ticklish from the constant touch of the swaying grass, enjoying the company of dragonflies that had suddenly appeared out of thin air. I lifted my hand, stretched out a finger, and was just about to let a dragonfly land on the tip of my nail when the sky suddenly became dark.

Frightened and bewildered, I quickly sat up, gasping at the grey sky. The wind picked up over the course of minutes, and I was struggling to hold down my white silk dress. With my hair flying all over my face and my sleeveless dress threatening to fly away, I cowered and hoped that the weather would calm down.

"Help!" I muffled against my forearms. "Someone!"

There was no other soul in the field.

The ground shook, and the grass and flowers instantaneously changed into shards of broken glass. They rained down on me, slicing into my flesh. I screamed, and I shrieked in pain. I cried so hard that my vision turned dark and little sparks of light appeared around the corners.

I was shaking hard, both because of the wind and fear. My heart was threatening to break a rib inside my chest. I cried, letting the tears fall onto the ground. I told myself that it was going to be okay, that I was going to be okay, but even I couldn't fool myself.

One particularly large shard broke down from its glass branch and crashed down against my shin. I shrieked and cried and dropped down to the ground of even more shards of glass.

And with the intense pain engulfing my body, I screamed awake.

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**I know, this is quite short and everything. I tried combining chapter 27 together with this, but it ended up being 3000 words long. The next chapter will be longer than this, I promise.**

**Please review!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Reviews:**

**ICCFOWIGSM: Errrrrrrrrrr...**

**usuixmisaki: You know what's funny? I've been thinking about writing a oneshot about prom, too! (Probably because Student Council has been planning _way_ in advance a prom for the seniors). That's a _very_ good idea you have there! I've been thinking about how I can merge your plot and mine together, so if I do find a way, I'll tell you, okay? Thanks for the idea :D**

**sheetal: Yes (unfortunately, I guess?). I've been thinking of ways to, like, separate the replies and the story itself, but can't find one until now.**

**blackopalz21: Yes, chapter 26 is a very short one. This one, though, is a long one. I hope you'll like this one better :)**

**whointheworldwouldbelievetha t: LOL. Yes, yes, naughty Misa indeed :p**

**Magica Ring: Here you go!**

**_***Hey, just so you know, every time I reply to reviews, I only reply to the ones submitted to the previous chapter (unless stated otherwise)***_  
**

* * *

I gasped and bolted up, only to fall down from the pain coming from my shin.

"Ah," I hissed, clenching my leg in pain, which inevitably only worsened the pain.

"Misaki?"

I whirled around towards the source of the sound that had called out my name, still hissing in pain and everything.

"God, Misaki…" he sighed and I was pulled in for a tight embrace that hurt my leg a lot. He immediately let go when I flinched in pain and apologized.

"W-why are you here?" I asked, scanning out surroundings. We were in a log cabin about the size of my bedroom with only one window located across from where I sat on the ground, and through it I could see that it was pouring outside. "Why are we here?"

"Well, as you can see clearly, it is pouring heavily outside, and I really do feel that being inside the protection of a log cabin is better than being outside under the rain," Kazuma answered.

I shook my head, which was a bit heavy on one side. "No. I mean, how did we get here? Why am I even with you?"

One of his brows cocked up a bit as he looked up to the ceiling, as though he was trying to recall how we ended up inside the place.

"Well," he said after a while, "I found you lying on the ground under tree, and being the gentleman that I am, I decided to help you get out of the rain before your flesh soaks up the puddle you were in."

I wrecked my mind in attempt to remember what'd happened, but my mind was empty. The last memory I had was when I rested against the bark of a tree, having given up the hope of catching any game.

"Don't push it," Kazuma interrupted my train of thoughts. "Probably won't remember a thing anyway."

I didn't know if that was an advice or a tease, so I stayed quiet.

In the silence that followed, I was starting to feel a bit nauseated. That was when I truly realized how cold it was in the cabin and how soaked my clothes were, and by then I couldn't stop shivering and my teeth chattering. I did, however, try to hide the involuntary shaking of my body.

But apparently I didn't hide it well enough, because just moments after I'd realized my shivering, Kazuma realized it, too.

He unraveled what I assumed to be his waterproof game bag from his shoulder and retrieved something from it. "Here," he said, making his way towards me.

I turned around and saw him unfolding a brown cotton shirt.

"Your clothes are wet, aren't they?" he said when I gave him a confused look. "Wear this. I brought them in case the one I'm wearing is not warm enough." He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt.

"W-what's the use o-of wearing an extra s-shirt if I'm s-still wearing wet c-clothes i-inside?" I asked through chattering teeth.

"Don't put it over your wet clothes," he sighed. "Change into it."

Despite myself, I felt my cheeks blush a little.

"R-right, like I'm g-going to change w-with you h-here," I muttered.

"What, are you saying that you want me to go out?"

"N-no. I'm s-saying that I'm not c-changing."

"You're shivering and your teeth are chattering. You need to change if you don't want to get sick, Misaki," he said impatiently.

"W-what about y-you, huh? Y-you're soaked, t-too!" I nodded towards the damp shirt sticking to his abdomen.

"I'm used to wearing wet clothes. Now change."

"I-I'm not changing!" I shouted stubbornly. "B-besides, y-you only have a shirt. N-no p-pants. W-wearing wet p-pants is just as b-bad as wet c-clothes."

"This shirt is definitely too big for you, okay? It will be able to cover up what your pants are covering up right now," he said. The he kneeled down on the wooden floor beside me and whispered, "And no matter what you say, I will get you into this shirt, even if it using brute force..." He placed his hand on my waist, just shy above the hem of my wet shirt.

"F-fine!" I snapped, kicking myself away from him. "I-I'll change, alright?"

"That's better." Kazuma placed his shirt on top of my head and stood up, heading towards a corner.

I clenched my hands around the dry cotton shirt, feeling the warmth of it on my skin. I couldn't wait to change out of my soaked clothes. But that wasn't something I'd admit out loud.

"D-don't you dare l-look," I stammered, a blush creeping its way up to my face.

"I won't. Promise."

Eyeing him catiously, I pulled out my damp shirt and quickly slipped into the dry one. I felt better almost immediately.

Slowly and gingerly, I took off my pants by dragging it off, since I couldn't stand, thanks to the pain in my leg. It was when my pants were halfway down my shin that I noticed the horrifically huge bruise stretching from my knee to my ankle. Ouch.

Once I was done, I took a moment to observe the attire of clothing on my body. The neckline was evidently made to suit a man's broad shoulder, seeing how it barely covered my shoulders and colar bones. The long sleeves were too long for my arms, completely hiding my pale hands. But Kazuma wasn't correct about how long the shirt was. Sure, it was long enough to cover all the way to my tighs, but that was it. It stopped halfway down my thighs and exposed a whole lot of skin.

"You done?" Kazuma asked.

"Uh, y-yes."

He turned. "Took you long – what is that?" He pointed at my shin.

"A – uh – bruise, I guess," I murmured, gazing at my blue, swollen shin.

"That is certainly not just a bruise, Misaki. Like – can you even move your leg?"

"I can... Only I won't." I puffed out my cheeks. "It's a normal bruise, Kazuma. I don't even know how I got it."

He was silent for a bit.

"Oh God... The tree..."

I looked at him quizically.

He shook his head, quickly sat down beside my leg, and said, "Try moving it."

"I am not moving it," I retorted, unwilling to go through the hastle and pain of moving my leg.

"Has the thought ever occurred to you that you may have a broken bone?" he demanded angrily, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

I flinched, because his voice was like a tiger's roar in the cabin. And to my quizzy self, it was painful.

"I-I'm sorry," he said apologitally. "But this is serious, Misaki. Try moving it, _please_."

I prepared myself for the intense pain that was coming, before cautiously bending my knee and wriggling my toes.

But no matter how hard I tried to move it, it wouldn't budge. It stayed as still as a rock.

"Come on, Misaki. I just need to see if it's alright," Kazuma begged.

"I _am_," I said, my voice breaking into a helpless sob. "But it won't _move!_"

Kazuma pressed his lips together tightly, his eyes looking at my leg intensely, as though staring at it would make it move. In the silence, I became more and more nervous and fidgety.

"This will hurt a little," he finally said, rubbing his hands together.

"What?" I choked on a sob in attempt to stiffle it. When he placed his hands in the air, slightly above my swollen leg, I asked, "W-what are you doing?"

But instead of answering my question, he proceeded in whatever it was he was doing, and placed his hands gently on my shin. His hands were freezing.

I was just about to point this out to him when he pressed down on my leg, sending strikes of pain shooting through my flesh. I tried not to scream by biting my lower lip and soon tasted warm blood.

"_Wh-ard – uhr – yew –_" I growled, clenching the hem of Kazuma's shirt tightly in balls of fist.

"Shh," he said, pressing my leg even more. I grunted in pain. "It seems like a clean break, luckily. Let me see…"

Agonizingly, Kazuma went on pressing and massaging my limb, and it felt as though someone was taking a cheese grater to my left shin, slicing my flesh inside out. My lips couldn't bear my biting anymore, so I decided to grit my teeth.

And there was this one moment, one nanosecond, where he massaged on this one spot on my leg, and it felt like the limb was bending into an _O_. And then we heard, despite the loud splashing of rain outside, a tiny scrape and a clicking sound, and his hands were quickly off my leg.

I released the breath I'd been holding, and unclenched my fists. My shin definitely felt better (especially since there was no longer someone massaging on my bruise), even though it was still pounding a little from the pain.

"What – was – that – about?" I breathed, wiping away the tears that were collecting on the corners of my eyes.

"Sorry. Got to align your bones, or else they'll heal wrong," he replied, leaning back on the pillars of his arms. "Was it _that_ painful?"

Painful? _Painful?_ To say that it was painful would be the understatement of the century.

No, not really. It would be the understatement of the millennia.

But I didn't have the energy to argue about how painful it was. All I wanted to do was lie down on a mattress and sleep, and perhaps go back to that dream where I was in a field – minus the storm and broken shards of glass, of course.

I yawned, leaning my head onto the wooden wall, and closed my eyes, not even caring that Kazuma was still there, eyeing my bruise. Call me impolite, I don't care.

"Here, rest on my lap."

I peeked from one eye and saw that he was patting his thighs.

"No," I said, closing my eyes again.

"Misaki…" he chided.

"_No_."

I felt him lightly tug at the sleeve of my – okay, _his_ – shirt, pulling the sleeve down my shoulder.

"Quit bugging me, for goodness's sake." I pulled up the sleeve.

Needless to say, he didn't stop.

"I swear, if you don't stop bugging me, I'll –" I was cut short when he interjected my threat.

"What? Break my bone? I think I've had enough bone mending for a day," Kazuma replied, somewhat bitterly.

This bitterness was what made me open my eyes and quietly murmur, "Thank you." And despite myself, I felt my cheeks heat up.

Suddenly, his hand crept in the gap between my neck and the wall, and pulled my head so that it was tilting to the side, right on his shoulder.

"I told you," I growled, straightening my head, "I am not going to rest on you. Not on your lap; not on your shoulder."

Kazuma pouted and muttered, "Fine."

There was a moment where the only noise in the whole wide world was the splashing of rain outside the cabin. It was peaceful, hearing each drop of rain colliding with the ground as the pain in my shin slowly ebbed away like that.

I closed my eyes once more and asked, "Why were you out here, Kazuma, in the woods?"

"I had my reasons," Kazuma whispered after some time.

I felt his head on my shoulder, but I was too exhausted to ask him to move it. I thought that the least I could do after he'd brought me out of the rain and aligned my bone was to let him rest his head on me. Besides, I never said that I didn't like it.

I didn't know when it was going to end, the rain, but whenever it was, I wasn't quite sure if I was looking forward to it as much as I had before.

* * *

**Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. Yeeps.**

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	28. Chapter 28

**Finally. IT'S FINISHED! (The chapter, not the story.) Sorry for keeping you waiting so long.**

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* * *

"Misaki… Misaki…"

The shaking on my shoulders, together with the calling out of my name, was what woke me up.

"Misaki." My name was called out again.

I blinked open my eyes, thankful for the dimness of the place, before focusing on the figure in front of me.

"Hmm?" I breathed.

"Look, the rain stopped."

I blinked my eyes a couple times to get them to focus. Slowly, I was able to make out the vague outlines of his face.

"Kazuma?" I called out, before clamping my hand over my mouth to yawn.

"Look!" He stepped away. "The rain stopped."

I looked at the minuscule window across from me, searching for darts of rain but finding none. I listened for splashes, but only getting chirps.

"Uh, okay," I mumbled, not knowing if that was a good thing or a bad one.

"Come on! Let's go back before those filth of guards come bust us out."

He stood up, stretching out his hand to me, his palm open. I took it, and gently, he pulled me up with ease.

However, when I carelessly took a step forward, jolts of agonizing pain shot up from my leg, and I fell on Kazuma's chest, knocking him over with me. His back collided with the floor with a loud thud.

I cursed out loud.

"Now," he said, sitting up, "is that what a lady is supposed to say aloud?"

"Oh, shut up," I said, before cursing some more, gritting my teeth in pain. To this, he chuckled.

It was at this point that I realized the two pieces of wood that sandwiched my broken leg, all wrapped in rolls of cloth.

"Hey," I muttered, my fingers picking on the cloth lightly. "What's this?"

Kazuma, seeing that my attention was on whatever it was that sandwiched my leg, answered, "Oh, just something that I thought would quicken the healing of your leg."

"Where'd you get the wood and cloth?" I inquired curiously.

"Branches got blown all the way to the front of the door," answered Kazuma. "And cloth from my bag."

I looked at him, feeling touched at first before the feeling of being indebted to him swallowed me. Sighing, I said, "I'll get you a new one."

He opened his mouth – to argue, perhaps – but I shushed him up before he could say anything.

I tried moving my leg, silently hoping that it wouldn't hurt so much, but who was I kidding? I had a broken bone and a heavily bruised shin, and even if my luck was good (which it wasn't), it would still hurt at least as much as getting stabbed repeatedly by a trident in the abdomen… before getting stomped by a group of elephants.

"Now just how am I going to go home?" I muttered under my breath.

"Do you like rides?" Kazuma asked out of the blue.

Taken aback by the suddenness of his question, I could only respond, "Uh, yeah…?"

"Good," he said, and before I could even try to guess what he was planning, he stood up, carrying me in his arms bridal style.

The first thought that came into mind was not how much it embarrassed me, or even how much I wanted to yank out the guy's eye balls. I didn't think those thoughts even occurred to me when he lifted me up. What _did_ occur to me, though, was how weird and off his touch was. And now that I thought about it, _all_ his touches felt weird, including the times when he helped me, such as when he cleaned my wound yesterday and aligned my bones just now.

As Kazuma, carrying me, made his way to take my wet clothes on the floor before going out to the woods, I thought about _why_ his touches had been feeling weird and off. I thought maybe it was because I'd just met him a day ago, but then again, I'd only met Usui a day before he'd – as embarrassing as this may sound – seen me practically naked, yet Kazuma's touch still felt weirder than that.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, I shook it out of my head and dealt with the discomfort of being carried by him throughout the journey back, during which my mind decided to fall back to sleep.

xXx

It was morning when I was awoke by the chirping of birds outside my window. They were restless, those birds, chirping and squeaking as though the world was going to end if they didn't.

I sat up, careful to not move or even touch the leg that had been throbbing since the nanosecond I was conscious. Blinking, I saw that I was still wearing Kazuma's shirt from yesterday, and that my the aforementioned throbbing leg was still sandwiched by two wooden planks – although these were different from the ones yesterday – and still wrapped with cloth – same cloth.

It was when I'd stared at the whole contraption that I remembered it.

"Suzuna," I called out, raising my voice as loud as I could. "Suzuna."

She was there in five second.

"Yes?" She peaked in the door.

"Uh, can you go to the market and get me a game bag please?" I asked. "The coins are in my cupboard."

"What's wrong with your current game bag? Mom is washing it right now." She headed to the cupboard, anyway.

I told her that it wasn't mine that needed replacing, and she went without another question.

"H-hey, Suzuna?" I said just after she stepped out of my room. When she poked her head in, I inquired, "Do you know where Kazuma is?"

"Kazuma… Oh, you mean our neighbor?" I nodded, and she continued, "In his house, probably. He's sick, if what Mom told me is true."

"Sick?" I whispered to myself.

When I looked at the door, Suzuna had gone away.

Agonizingly, I dragged myself to the end of my bed, the closest place I could get to the window without having to step on the floor searched for The Guy Who Wasn't Allowed to Go Near Me.

His room was dark, just like how it had been before he moved in, and I was just about to question his very existence when his room filled up with light and a much smaller boy than Kazuma went in and opened the window. I opened my own for a clearer view – and in attempt to hear whatever it was they were going to say.

"Are you feeling any better?" asked the boy.

Someone, who I assumed to be Kazuma, coughed loudly, saying, in the hoarsest voice I'd ever heard from him, "N-no. Not really. Daichi, go out."

The boy – Daichi – didn't go out. He, out of my eyeshot, did something for a while, during which sounds of water splashing could be heard.

"Daichi," Kazuma chided, coughing as he did.

Daichi stayed silent as the splashing of water continued.

"Daichi, _please_. We can't afford to get you sick, too," Kazuma continued. "I can take care of myself."

"No, you can't! If you could, then you wouldn't have ended up sick in the first place!" Daichi shouted so loud that I didn't have to really concentrate to hear what he said.

"I told you why I fell sick –" Kazuma shouted back, only to catch his voice in a cough at the end.

This was when I realized that I was the reason he fell sick. And only to prove my newfound awareness – also increasing the amount of guilt that had been piling inside – the boy said, "Oh yeah, how did you put it again? _'I gave my spare shirt to my love, and I also shredded my game bag, the single thing that I had from our _dead_ parents, so that my one love of my life can heal well.'_ Oh yeah, you can take care of yourself pretty well."

"Daichi…"

"Oh yeah, I forgot, you _hope_ she's your lover!"

"Daichi! Watch –"

"Misaki!"

I would have jumped about a meter into the air, only I didn't, because my cursed leg would break if I did.

"Mom!" I whirled around, pounding my chest in order to calm it down, finally letting out the breath that I'd been holding.

"Misaki?"

I turned to the window, my heart crashing against my ribs in a speed I couldn't explain, but now for a whole other reason.

"Misaki, is that – were you –?" Kazuma's head appeared from the side of the window, his skin extremely pale and cadaverous.

Busted.

I swallowed the cotton ball inside my throat, and I didn't know why, but my eyes started to water.

"Am – am I interrupting anything…?" Mom asked, guilt rising into her voice.

I whirled around to face Mom and was just about to convince that she wasn't when Kazuma croaked, "Misaki, did you – _did you hear_ –?" He coughed.

I turned around to face him, but I didn't know what to say. I wanted to say something – _anything_ – but my voice caught in my throat. I started shaking my head, but I ended up turning back to Mom, who was looking really worriedly at me.

"I'm sorry, Misaki. I was – I was just…" Mom stammered, taking a step towards me before taking a step back again.

"I'm sorry, Mom…" I hugged my good leg against my chest. "Just… I'm having a bad time right now, so just…"

She seemed to get the message and left.

I didn't know why, but I started crying. I didn't know what to make out of all the things that happened. I thought that I was crying because of the mortification of getting caught eavesdropping, but it seemed off.

I dragged myself away from the window, now forever hating it. Now behind the protection of opaque and solid wall, I continued releasing the tears that were piling in the corners of my eyes. In the silence, I could hear Kazuma's and Daichi's hushed conversation.

"I don't care if she heard me!" Daichi screamed after some time. "She's the reason you're sick! She made you destroy the single thing our parents left us!"

"Go out, Daichi!"

"Fine!"

By the loud _thud_ that followed, it seemed that Daichi had finally gone out of the room.

Maybe that was it, I thought. Maybe it was because I knew that someone disliked me.

I only wished it was that simple.

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	29. Chapter 29

**Hello~ Here with another update~~**

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* * *

When it arrived, I was still silently bawling my eyes out.

It came like a speeding bullet, tearing past air so quickly that it made a loud collision with my wooden cupboard. It just stayed there, unmoving, staring at me with nonexistent eyes. I stared back at it, unmoving.

After a while, I dragged myself close to the edge of my bed and stretched my hands to pick it up. It was a round pebble, about the size of my thumb, and around it was a piece of paper bounded with a piece of white string. Straightening myself, I loosened the string and read the paper.

"_I'm sorry_," it read. Crunching the piece of paper, I threw it away.

I threw it away, not because I thought that what he'd done was unforgivable and that an '_I'm sorry_' just wouldn't cut it. I threw it away because he didn't do anything that he should be sorry for. If anything, _I_ should be the one apologizing for eavesdropping, which, for reasons unknown, I hadn't.

"Misaki, I'm sorry. He didn't know what he was talking about," Kazuma said. "He's only 10."

"H-he's right, isn't he?" I asked. "Anyway, I'm sorry…"

And with that, I closed the window and wept once more.

xXx

Suzuna came home just before dinner, bringing with her a bag and change.

"Suzuna, where have you been? You missed lunch!" Mom queried. "Hurry up and clean yourself! Dinner is ready."

Mom, who'd helped me walk down the stairs for lunch and dinner, quickly rushed my sister away.

"Don't get me wrong or anything, Suzuna, but what took you so long?" I asked while stuffing my mouth with rabbit meat.

"There was a throng blocking the whole road, so I had to go the long way," she answered in monotone. "Oh, by the way, I placed the bag on your bed," she said to me.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"A throng? Are they giving out things again?" Mom voiced in.

"A throng of Class people," Suzuna explained.

This revelation caught my attention the way an arrow shoots past the air: as quickly as light.

"Class people? What are they doing here?" I asked, dead curious.

Suzuna shrugged. "Though, I kept on hearing something about wedding that's happening tomorrow," she added, before scooping up more meat from her plate.

"A wedding?" I asked, nervousness starting to seep in my words. I had an odd feeling growing inside me. "D-don't tell me the king's getting married again." I added a nervous chuckle.

Without even a look at me, my sister, who couldn't care less of anything other than the things in her own little world, commented, "I don't think it's the king. Heard something about the prince, though."

I gulped, feeling as though the whole world was shattering into pieces.

"My, so _that's_ what they've been talking about," Mom sang. "The farmers have been restless these days, harvesting for the Class…"

"Mom," I deadpanned. "How many princes are there in the Class?"

"Only one," she answered, still happy that she had finally discovered what the farmers had been talking about.

While she was content that she'd learned the news, I wasn't quite as thrilled.

"Do you know that the marriage was actually arranged by the king? The prince has only met his wife-to-be once –" Mom was saying when I interjected.

"Sorry, I-I need to use the bathroom," I murmured, pushing myself up with my hands. Suzuna stood up with me and helped me up the stairs.

Once we were on the second floor, I told her that I could walk to the bathroom myself, and she went down. The second I heard her drag her chair, I, excruciatingly hopping on one foot, headed to my room.

I took Usui's letter from under the arrow on my bed and read it again. There was this particular line that I lingered my eyes on, wishing that I could hear Usui's voice saying it to me, whispering it so quietly that nobody in the world but us could hear it.

_All you need to know is that I love you, Ayuzawa._

All I needed to know, eh? Well, I'd known it for what seemed to be an eternity now, and guess what happened? Oh, my lover was getting _married_ to another woman. Yeah, I saw how the knowledge had helped me.

Damn it…

Tears started to pile in the corners of my eyes, and I clutched the letter hard against my chest as the first of them trickled down my cheeks.

Maybe it was selfish of me to want to keep Usui for myself when we were clearly not fated to be with one another. Perhaps it would be easier and less painful for everyone if I just let go, just forgot everything that had happened, just pretended that there was no _'us'_. And there was one moment where I was a good enough person to forget him – forget us – forever. But then the naivety inside me surfaced, and the thought of ever letting go of the precious memories I had with him vanished into thin air.

I wanted him.

I _needed_ him.

Life just seemed impossible without the possibility of him being mine, even if reality said so otherwise. But with him being married… Well, even the most naïve person in the whole sea of naïve people couldn't possibly stand against that.

As I cried, I slowly became aware of_ thud, thud, thud_ on my window. Tossing out every thought in my head, I wiped my eyes and looked out the window, only to find Kazuma sitting on his window sill, dangerously unbounded to anything stationary.

"Hey," he said when I opened my window, letting in a gush of wind. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," I said stiffly.

"I want an answer, not a façade."

"Were you throwing pebbles at my window?"

"I'll answer that if you answer me first." His voice amazingly sounded like he was suppressing laughter.

"I did. I said I was fine, didn't I?" I replied incredulously.

"That's your façade, and I'm not one to fall for that." He coughed.

I chewed on my bottom lip for a while, not knowing what I should say after all the drama that took place just this afternoon. I felt like closing the window again, but especially after the drama that took place, I, at the very least, owed him the talking.

"Um, are you – are you feeling any better?" I broke the silence, hoping to change the topic of the conversation.

"Still not answering my question."

"Answer mine first then I'll answer yours."

He looked at me, cocked one of his eyebrows up, and, in a speed quite impossible for a human tongue, answered, "Yes, I threw pebbles at your window and I'm… feeling better. Your turn."

I stared at him, dazed. "That took you less than a second."

The corner of his lips crept up. "Your turn," he repeated.

"Well…" I breathed in deeply. "I am certainly not fine, as you can already tell…" I trailed off, letting silence in.

Moments of silence passed before it was broken by Kazuma when he said, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sure Daichi –"

"– didn't know what he was talking about," I interjected. "Yes, I heard you."

"I'm sorry. Please… just forget what you heard, because that is all a lie, okay?" he said, and was just about to open his mouth to say more when I interrupted him.

"Even the part where he said you wished I was your lover?"

He paused, and in the moonlight he seemed to be utterly surprised.

"Is that a lie, too?" I asked.

His face turning to a shade of red, he stuttered, "W-well… I mean… Err… Haha…"

I broke to laughter then.

"I was just joking with you," I chuckled. "I didn't know you'd take it so seriously!"

He joined me laughing, though his sounded more like a nervous titter.

I didn't know what exactly happened then, but I was suddenly overcome by this warmth that enveloped me the way my leg was wrapped in the tattered cloth.

"Oh right!" I snapped, grabbing the new game bag from my bed. "Catch!" I threw it to him.

He almost fell catching it.

"Hmm, I guess you want to kill me more than I think you do," he commented, stabilizing himself on the sill.

"Well, I _am_ a hunter," I joked.

Kazuma inspected the object he'd almost died catching, and the faint smiled on his face diminished.

"Misaki," he started. "You didn't have to get me a new bag."

"Hey, you tore yours for my leg. Of course I needed to get you a new one." When I saw him open his mouth again, I said, "Whatever you're going to say, keep it to yourself. I'm not going to change my mind."

He sighed. "Why are you not fine?" he asked.

I cocked my head to the side, silent.

"When I asked you how you were doing, you said that you're certainly not fine," he explained. "Why is that?"

I stayed silent. I just didn't know how I should explain something that was perplexing even to me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry," he said after a while.

"No, don't apologize," I replied. "I just don't know how to explain the crap feelings I have right now."

"Hold on," he said, before disappearing behind a curtain of darkness.

"Where are you going?" I called out. Receiving no answer, I sat quietly and still, awaiting his return.

Five minutes passed before he reappeared – only not in his room. He walked silently as mice that I didn't even acknowledge his presence before he pulled my hand and shouted a loud '_Boo!_' in my ear. To say that my heart almost stopped would be a massive understatement.

"God… _You_ want to kill me more than I think you do," I muttered, panting.

"Well, I _am_ a hunter," he laughed.

I shoved away any things that were on my bed and made room for him. He sat down beside me and rested his back on the wall.

"So, now you can attempt to explain those crap feelings that you're having right now," he said, grinning at me.

"Well…" I started, swinging my good leg back in.

"Well?"

"How did you get here, anyway?"

"God, you just love changing the topic of the conversation, don't you?"

"At least I tried," I whispered to myself. To him I said, "Fine. I'm feeling horrible…"

Silence filled the room.

"Look, I really can't explain it right now," I said after some time. "It's just that my life, right now, is falling apart. Like, _really_ falling apart. And I don't know how to explain it. It's just… _falling apart_."

Kazuma turned to face me then. Not because I wasn't making any sense – although that could easily be a reason – but because I was crying.

"Misaki…"

I realized the tears that were falling from my eyes, and apologized. I apologized for everything. I apologized for making him sick. I apologized for ruining his bag. I apologized for wasting his time. I apologized for the fact that he had to put up with me. Everything.

He placed his arm around me and pulled me against his chest, where I clenched handfuls of his shirt and cried and apologized even more.

"Shh…" he whispered while hugging me closer to him. "It's alright… Everything's alright…"

It was after a while of crying that I felt exhausted. All I wanted to do was sleep. Sleep. Sleep…

All I wanted to do was to fall asleep in the security and aegis of his arms.

"Kazuma…" Somehow, his name slipped out my mouth. "Kazuma…"

"I'm here," he whispered, hugging me as tight as he could without making me feel uncomfortable. "I'm here…"

Unconsciousness dawned, and I soon fell into deep, peaceful slumber.

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**/dies**

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	30. Chapter 30

**Yes. I know. Long time.**

**I guess you guys are a bit sick of all the 'sorry's I've been typing up in here, so instead of 'sorry's (sorrys? Sorries? What?) I've typed up the whole reason why I've been away. You can find it here - notepad. cc / share / dN3sUKyOWj _(delete the spaces please)_**

**I won't be replying to reviews today, but I will next time. I'm completely exhausted right now (and you can see why in the link above), and I just finished writing this chapter yesterday, so yeahh.**

**Enjoy.**

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I woke up in the middle of midnight, wondering what just happened and why my back was so sore. It was so dark in my room that it took me quite a while to realize the hand that was around my waist and the chest I was leaning on. After the disclosure of that, I soon became aware that I'd been sleeping in Kazuma's embrace.

I blinked a few times to get used to the darkness. I wriggled my toes, stretched out my fingers, and yawned. I had no idea why I was up in the dead of the night, but for whatever reason, I couldn't go back to sleep.

Slowly, I loosened Kazuma's grip around my and inched towards the window, which was tightly shut. A gush of cool wind greeted me when I opened it, causing my hair to fly all over my face. I folded my good leg against my chest and hugged it.

For a while, I spent my time just sitting there by the window, staring at the dark, starless sky, all while Kazuma was sleeping a couple inches away from me. The air was dry and cold, and it tingled when it touched the tracks of tears on my face. It was relaxing – soothing, even – and I would've stayed there for all eternity if it hadn't been for the carriages.

Sounds of pounding hooves and squealing wheels came not long after. They first blended in with the hush of the wind, the rustle of the leaves, but as they travelled closer and closer, the voices got louder and louder until it was distinctly the sounds of carriages.

Why, I wondered, would anyone travel in carriages that late at night? It was unaccustomed, extremely out of place in a small village like this. Then I heard the muffled whispers.

"Quick!" a person seemed to say. "We need to get it to the Class before sunrise!"

"There wouldn't be enough time!" another said. "We still have 1 more in a 10-minute distance from us!"

Ah, of course. The wedding. How could I have forgotten? The tedious, horrible wedding that would bind Usui Takumi with a stranger he barely knew.

I didn't know what exactly caused my eyes to tear up again: the cold, biting wind, or the fact that Usui was going to get married to someone else but me. Given the aching pain in my heart, my guess would be the latter.

I remember when I was young, when I found out that my dad wasn't going to be around anymore. I'd felt as though I was a balloon Misaki and that someone had just punctured a tiny hole on me. I didn't pop, but instead I was slowly deflating. I was slowly, but painfully, losing myself, losing my structure.

I'd thought that that would be the last time I would feel that way. Clearly, I was way too young and naïve to be judging what I would and would not feel in the future. For, right now, I was feeling just as horrible as I had a couple years ago – if not worse.

Yeah, if that was even possible.

But also like a couple years back, I did gain something through the loss and the shedding of my tears. If I had learned how to be strong and live as the head of the family back then, I got an insane and completely stupid idea this time.

As the sounds of the carriages faded, I knew that there were 4 more coming in less than 10 minutes. If I could just hop on one of them, it would get me to the Class in no time.

Without even a second thought, I got off my bed. I dragged myself down the stairs, inching towards the possibility of getting the other part of me back, the possibility of getting the person that meant most to me – my family aside – back by my side.

I mean, it wasn't that I wasn't conscious of what I was doing. Of course I was, or else I'd be sleepwalking. I just wasn't making any sense. Like, you could say that I was an elephant and I'd believe you.

It was in the dead of the night. Cut me some slack.

Anyway, I was just about to exit through the rotten frame of wood I called door when something grabbed my wrist.

"Just where are you going this late at night?"

I whirled around, finding myself face-to-face with Kazuma. Actually, I had to look up slightly, because he was a head taller than me. He looked down at me with curiosity.

"A midnight stroll," I said abruptly, having no time to make up a better excuse.

He grimaced at my evident lie. "Well, even _this_ is a bit late for a midnight stroll, isn't it?"

"I just… need to get some air," I said. "Claustrophobic. I hate my room."

"Then do you mind me joining?" He ran the hand that had gripped my wrist through his hair.

I didn't have time for this. I couldn't possibly let him join me. I mean, I wasn't _that_ nonsensical.

By then, I could already start hearing the distant sounds of squeaking wheels and thumping hooves, and I didn't want to miss the only chance of going to the Class. So I did what only thing I could do.

"Look, I'm going to the Class, okay? Now please, just go back up or go back home and pretend that this conversation didn't happen."

But if I was expecting him to let me go that easily, then I was up for a disappointment. Because not only did he not go back to sleep and let me go, his hands shot out as fast as lighting, gripping my shoulders so hard that they actually hurt more than my cursed leg.

"You," he said, dead serious, "are _not_ going anywhere. Not outside for a stroll, not for air, and certainly not to the Class for – what exactly are you going to the Class for?"

I stayed silent as the sound of wheels became louder.

"Misaki…" Kazuma started.

I looked down at the piece of floor between us, and asked, "Have you heard about the wedding that's taking place tomorrow there?"

He looked at me as though I'd grown another head. "What does the wedding have to do with your leaving?" he asked, completely oblivious of my secret love affair with the groom.

That is, until I spilled the beans.

"I am in love with the Prince."

To say that Kazuma was surprised to the core would be the understatement of the millennia. He was silent for quite a long time after that.

"Look, I can't really explain what is going on between… well, the Prince and me," I said, hating how cheesy and just weird that sounded. "But please… I really need to go."

He scrutinized my face for a while – albeit a long while – as I continued to contemplate the knot on the wooden board beneath my feet. The carriage was getting closer as the seconds ticked by, and my heart was pounding hard at the possibility of missing the carriage.

"No," said Kazuma, straight and fast.

"_Why?_" I cried, feeling as though my heart had just been ripped out of my chest in the most brutal way possible. "All you have to do is let go of my shoulders! I'm not asking you to chaperone me there or anything! Just –" I struggled to free myself in vain "– let me _go!_ Why are you keeping me –?"

"Because I love you!"

The words came out of his mouth as quick as lightning, as loud as thunder.

And yet I didn't believe that the words were really said out loud.

"Let me go, Kazuma," I pleaded. "_Please._"

"I love you, Misaki," he continued on, as if I hadn't spoken a word. "And I am not letting you go out in the middle of the night to go to somewhere that far away."

Just as he was saying that, the ground vibrated a little, and the sound of hooves was just right outside my door.

I was flabbergasted by what he said, but the carriage and the Class and Usui meant more to me at that time.

So with my newly earned knowledge, and the loosening of Kazuma's grip on my shoulders, I opened the door and burst out of the house simultaneously, chasing helplessly after the cart that was well in front of me with one working leg.

I tried my best to move my legs as quickly as they could move, with steps as big as the length of my legs would allow me. But even then, the distance between the vehicle and me was growing. The cart was shrinking into the horizon, and I was starting to lose hope.

Maybe it was my punishment for all the times that I'd broken the law and hunted on protected lands.

Maybe we were just not meant to be together.

Maybe…

But if it was our fate, why did it hurt so much?

I was just about to stop running, to stop trying and just crumple down on the ground right then – because really, what's the point? – when I was picked up bridal style and was advancing in a speed that got me – or rather, _us_ – on the back of the open cart by no time.

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**Please review!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Hello there! Sorry for the inconsistent updates these months. As you have already read on the last chapter, I've been busy as heck, and in a day or so I'll be going to Japan for a week. But it's on my new year's resolutions to update more frequently next year, so I hope you haven't run out of patience waiting for my update.**

**My English has been going down ever since summer... Sigh...**

**Reviews:**

**ICCFOWIGSM: Thanks! But sorry, I don't think Usui will be appearing in this chapter. Or is it _on_ this chapter? God, my use of prepositions took the worst of the fall...**

**suicune4ever: I know, it's very unrealistic. My writing (as mentioned somewhere above) plummeted down hard.**

**the allyson wonderland: Err, I am not sure whose line that will be... (I don't even know if that line is going to show itself in this story or not...)**

**GirlOfTheForestGreen: Haha, I think the sadness of the last chapter is the result of my mixed up emotions when writing it.**

**ChaCha-ness: In the last part of the last chapter, Misaki was carried by someone (I think you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure who it was) to the carriage, since she can't really run, what with her broken leg and everything.**

**miss nobody: Yeah, I feel sorry for him too... But really, Usui vs Kazuma? Who are you going to choose?**

**amuletspade2001: If you ask me, I don't really know why I made Usui marry another woman. I've always thought about a planned relationship by the King, but never a marriage. I guess a marriage will sound more dramatic? xD Ugh, so much drama is going on in my life...**

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It was odd, having someone who was entirely against what you're planning to do help you do it like this.

I mean, I did appreciate his help. Of course I did. But it was still kind of odd.

It was, in fact, so odd, that when I was dropped on the wooden floor of the cart with a panting Kazuma beside me, I immediately ignored what little sense I had and flung my hands around the guy's neck.

"Thank you," I whispered, unable to hold back my river of gratitude. Oh, and tears. "Thank you, Kazuma."

He seemed to be perplexed by my sudden embrace and just sat as still as a statue. Well, if statues have hearts that beat hard against their chest, anyway.

"Y-you're welcome," he said just as I was disentangling my hands from his neck.

We sat in complete silence for the next couple seconds, panting from all the running – well, limping, in my case. His face was flushed, and I didn't know if it was from the running or the hug I – admittedly absent-mindedly – gave him. Meanwhile, my mind was whirring with hundreds of thousands of question, one of which Kazuma seemed to be asking himself.

"God…" he sighed, breaking the silence. "Why did I even...?" He ran his fingers through his ruffled brown hair.

And if I wasn't mistaken, his already-flushed cheeks became a deeper shade of pink.

I realize that this may be really obnoxious on my part, thinking that he was blushing – albeit lightly – because of what I did. But really, when you have a terribly handsome young man in front of you (which is not saying that you are – in any way possible – attracted to him), and he's _blushing_… Well, I think the first thing that pops into your mind is that how it'd make your day if he is indeed blushing about something that is related to you.

Oh God… What has love done to my poor mind?

What has love done to my life, for that matter. But now I'm just going ahead of myself.

The silence that followed after Kazuma's small mumbling was almost deafening. I guess it wasn't so much as deafening as inconceivably awkward and heavy. It was as if darts that weighed as much as the tree that feel on my leg were falling on me; it really was agonizing.

And being the inexplicable wimp that I was, I, in attempt to break the excruciating silence, spoke up.

"I'm sorry."

Kazuma looked up to me then, his mouth opening for a fraction of the second before closing again. It seemed that he wasn't going to inquire as to what I was sorry for.

So I continued on.

"I'm sorry about what happened back in my house…" I muttered, my eyes locked to the pieces of hay that were scattered around the floor. "I know how hard it is to… actually… err…"

"Confess?"

I lifted my gaze to his face, hiding my eyes with my bangs. "Y-yes. Confess. And I'm sorry that I didn't even comprehend what you were really saying, in my selfish wish to get on this carriage. I'm sorry. I was just… I don't even know… It's just that –"

But I didn't get to say what other banters I had in store, because right then, he craned forward and planted a soft kiss on my lips.

Don't get me wrong, I had considered letting him have this kiss as a token of apology from me. But it seemed wrong, you know? Like, the whole reason we were in that cart was because I wanted to meet my… _lover_. I couldn't possibly be kissing some guy while I was on the way to meet another guy who I was supposed to be in love with just because I owed the former guy an apology and my gratitude. Wouldn't that make the kiss a prositutional kiss?

And believe me when I say this, I did _not_ – and still don't, really – want to be related to anything that resembles… that.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, pulling away from his. "I… can't."

He stared down ruefully at me for a while, searching for the eyes that I'd yet covered under my surprisingly useful bangs. And out of everything that I'd expected him to do right then – you know, push me, mock me, scold me, or even push me out from the cart – he leaned in and hugged me.

His embrace was tight. In fact, it was so tight, that if I hadn't any clue – and maybe I hadn't – I'd think that he was trying to squeeze my internal organs out the way one squeezes citric juices out of a lemon.

"Kazuma," I said.

The only thing it did was encourage him to hug me even tighter.

"Kazuma," I repeated.

No reaction.

"I'm… suffocating…" And this wasn't even a lie.

Only upon hearing this did he release me, apologizing.

"Look," he said after I'd convinced him that I was alright. "Just ignore all the things that I said before, okay? In fact, let's just act as if I hadn't practically begged you to stay just a while ago. Let's just say that I'd been on your back about the whole thing. Let's just say that I'd ignored the craziness about this –" he waved around encompassingly, signaling whatever it was that '_this_' was –"whole thing and had went with you. Okay?"

He spoke in such a hurried manner, so quickly as though he was embarrassed to say all that, that I almost couldn't comprehend what he was saying. So to what he just said, I could only respond by saying, "Okay."

I assure you, the silence that followed my small 'Okay' was the worst of all the known silences in the world. It was like there was this wall between us two – this wall of unexplainable, incomprehensible words and emotions and feelings that placed a mental and emotional distance between us, when physically our knees were actually touching each other.

Yeah, sometimes things that you can't see can have much bigger of an effect than all the tangible things.

Like love, for instance. I bet if love was this thing that you could punch in the gut for being such a pain in the backside, it really wouldn't cause this much trouble.

I didn't realize that I was slowly going into the state of unconsciousness, but when I woke up, the cart was making its way on a narrow track of uneven mud in between tens of hundreds of rice fields.

Oh, and Kazuma was meticulously fixing the bandage around my leg that currently sucked at being a leg.

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**Yes, a fairly short chapter. But I do have a 3000-word one-shot prepared so you guys have something to read while I'm gone. Since it's rather long, I'm planning to divide it to 3 chapters or so. What do you think? Should I?**

**Please review!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Hey guys! Sorry (for the thousandth time) for not updating for so long. I'm not feeling good these days, and I'm... quite _unstable _these few months. I'm under an emotional stress, and I think you know how my school is. You know, homework everyday and projects every week. It's just... _gah!_**

**I'm not going to lie, I may or may not be updating often for the next few weeks or months. On top of what I just said above, Student Council is planning this huge event, and I'm going to have an important exam in two to three months; I just can't afford to have my grades drop. I hope you guys will understand.**

**But of course, I _will_ update sometimes, just not as frequently as before. I will _not_ leave this story unfinished (well, this story is only a little away from ending, anyway).**

**Reviews will not be answered for now. I'm sorry.**

**Enjoy~**

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"Uh," I groaned, rubbing my eyes. "How long have I been asleep?"

Kazuma looked up at me, the shadows under his eyes apparent, his gaze empty. His eyes lingered on me for a while before he shook his head, as though just realizing that I was awake.

"Oh!" he snapped, looking away. "N-not that long – maybe three or four hours." He nodded to the stretch of mud on which the cart was leaving tracks. I followed his eyes and saw that the sun was starting to rise from the horizon.

"How long do you think it'll take to reach the Class from here?" I asked, both out of curiosity and for the sake of something to talk about.

"Not long, I believe. Maybe in an hour or two," he answered. He went back to my leg.

"How do you know?"

"I overheard the driver talk to a passerby."

"Oh."

And the inevitable silence filled the small cabin we were in.

I stared at Kazuma while he fingered with all the shreds of cloth around my shin, taking in how exhausted but serious he looked. I didn't think it was possible for mankind to look that way, but obviously I was wrong.

As he unraveled the strips of cloth from my leg, I saw a giant blotch of purplish blue on my flesh. His fingers skimmed over it, sending waves of pain shooting up my spine; I bit my lips to stop myself from screaming.

"It's still tender," he said, his eyes fixed to the bruise. "The bone seems to be healing well, though."

"That's a relief," I chuckled.

"This is going to hurt a bit," he said, positioning his hands just below my knee.

Before I could even ask what he was doing, however, he started applying pressure on my leg. It didn't hurt as much as I'd expected it to – at first. But as he started sliding his hands towards my foot, the pain grew and grew, and when they were right in the center of the blotch, it hurt so much that I had to bite the insides of my cheeks to refrain from shrieking.

"This will let the blood flow better," Kazuma explained. He repositioned his hands below my knees.

"Are you going to do this for the rest of the ride?" I asked through gritted teeth, my voice sounding as if I was being strangled.

He laughed quietly. "No," he said after he'd stopped laughing. "No, maybe not for the rest of the ride. Just a couple more times."

"How the _heg_ do you know so much about mending a broken bone – _guhd!"_ I bit my tongue hard.

He didn't answer for a while, just a smile playing on his lips.

"My mom mended my broken leg when I was 8," he said, his voice low. "It was the last thing we did together before she…" His voice trailed off then.

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head, smiling ruefully at my shin. "Don't be. You couldn't have known."

I looked down at my lap, and the previous silence filled the space between us once again as the throbbing pain in my leg slowly became dull.

It really didn't make sense how he could be so kind to me. I hadn't been anything but trouble to him ever since we got to know each other, and I'd basically broken his heart last night when I left right after he confessed. And yet he still helped me get on the cart and took care of my heavily-bruised leg.

He told me he loved me last night, so maybe that was why he was so nice towards me. I wondered how he would act when he saw Usui…

But… just how were we going to meet Usui?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't have any plan whatsoever as to what we were going to do after we reach the Class. Surely, we couldn't just go bursting into some wedding – a royal wedding, no less – and expect to be welcomed in. For one thing, I highly suspected that the wedding was exclusively invitation-only.

Why had I only then thought about how my reunion with Usui would go, I have no idea.

"There, I think that's enough for now," Kazuma's voice broke in whatever wall of thoughts I had built up in my mind. He grabbed the pieces of wood and repositioned it along my shin, before wrapping them up with the shreds of what once was the last thing his parents gave to him. "Heal well, Leg." He patted my covered limb and smiled at me.

I felt a pang in my gut.

"T-thank you," I muttered, softer than I'd intended. But he heard what I said.

"Welcome," he said lightheartedly, smiling after he did.

It felt wrong, having him reply in such a nonchalant manner. He thought that I was only thanking him for what he did to my leg, and maybe I was, but it felt like I was thanking him for something more than just a massage; it felt as though I was thanking him for something universal.

"So what are we going to do once we reach there?" he inquired, leaning back at the wooden wall behind him.

"That's what I've been wondering this whole time," I grumbled, slightly embarrassed.

He chuckled. "You came bursting out of your house without a plan? Doesn't sound like the Misaki I know," he said, amused.

"Pretty much," I shrugged.

He stared at the tracks on the mud for a moment, scrutinizing it as if it will give us an answer.

"We can always burst into the wedding and be all, 'I _object!_'" he recommended. "Though it might be a tad bit weird if I do it, since I don't even know who the bride is, and there's no way that I'm there for the prince."

As he laughed, I asked myself how a person could ever be this kind, joking even about the subject that he wasn't supposed to be joking about.

"Yeah, right," I muttered.

"I'm serious! How else do you plan on meeting this _prince_ of yours?"

"But barging into someone's wedding…"

What he said next got me speechless:

"Oh yeah, but cheating with him behind his fiancée's back and possibly cancelling the wedding isn't an immoral thing to do."

I looked down at my stomach. He was right, wasn't he?

"What do you plan on doing, Misaki? Are you just here to say a final goodbye, or are you here to continue whatever relationship you have with him?"

That was the second thing I hadn't thought about ever since I left my house.

"I…" I started. "I don't know."

Kazuma sighed lightly before standing up to sit next to me. I laid my head on his shoulder.

"This is stupid. I'm sorry," I whispered, looking at the mud that was slowly turning into solid ground. "We can just go back when there's a ride going there."

"No, we shouldn't."

I looked up at his chin. "Why? We have no plan. All this is just a plainly stupid naïve love act."

"We, humans, tend to do stupid things when we're in love." He chuckled to himself. "What makes you any different from others, Ayuzawa Misaki?"

Nothing. I wasn't any different from all the other human beings in love. We were all stupid.

"So, ready to go bursting into some wedding?" he asked.

I said, "And get us all in prison? Yeah, sure. Why not?"

We laughed then.

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**Oh right. Since this story soon to end (sad, I know), and since I don't have any ideas for a new story yet, I'm open to requests or whatever it is that you call them. Though, please make them one shots, and not some crazily long story. Just a light idea, you know?**

**Please review!**


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